Bitcoin is selling for a nearly $3,000 discount on Binance.US, providing a significantly better rate than global spot prices — but there’s just one catch.
On July 9, a swathe of crypto users began noticing a widening price discrepancy between cryptocurrencies listed on the United States crypto exchange and their global spot prices, with many calling it a “depeg” of cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin is currently trading at $27,536 on the exchange against the U.S. dollar, which is around an 8.5% discount from global spot USD prices of $30,106 at the time of writing.
Other cryptocurrencies are also trading at a discount in U.S. dollar terms. Ethereum prices are around $200 cheaper on Binance.US, trading for $1,695 at the time of writing. Some stablecoins such as USDT were also trading below their pegs with Tether at $0.915 on the exchange.
However, while the crypto discounts look enticing for an arbitrager, the reality is that most investors will not be able to take advantage of them.
This is because the discount only applies when a cryptocurrency is traded against fiat USD on the crypto exchange.
The problem is, Binance.US users have not been able to deposit new USD into the platform since June 9, when it was suspended. Effectively, this means that the discounted cryptocurrencies can only be bought with any USD already sitting on the account before the suspensions took place.
Concerns that Binance.US will soon halt USD withdrawals have also led to some users trading their cryptocurrencies below market value in order to exit their positions in USD.
According to an email from Binance.US to customers, which has circulated on Twitter, the last day for USD withdrawals will be July 20.
In late May, a similar situation occurred relating to the Australian dollar at the Australian branch of Binance when the company’s third-party payments provider shuttered fiat on and off ramps.
The price of BTC on Binance fell 20% compared to global spot prices when traded against the Australian dollar.