Speaking with Finance Magnates, Binance strategy officer Gin Chao said the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange “would probably want to list” Facebook’s Libra coin on its marketplace. Chao said that Binance has been in talks with Facebook about the potential listing. Though he said discussion is, “very much at a preliminary stage.”
The revelation is some interesting news out of the FinTech Junction Conference in Tel Aviv, where journalists had a chance to sit down with fintech leaders and discuss the future of the industry.
Trading Stablecoins Like Libra Is Absurd
Chao said:
“We have had official dialogue with Facebook. With regarding to listings specifically, right now they are going to be on a so-called ‘private chain.’ So that means they won’t be looking for external liquidity.”
Libra is conceived by Facebook and its many corporate partners as a so-called “stablecoin” for easy payments among peers, and between consumers and vendors. When stablecoins are traded on exchanges the intrinsic absurdities of the niche altcoin segment become apparent.
Take Tether as an example. Tether is supposed to be fixed to the USD at a 1:1 ratio. It spent half of last October trading below $1. For a while it cost only $0.92 in crypto markets globally. Traders could buy it for as little as $0.85 on one cryptocurrency exchange.
In a CCN interview with a former New York State Department of Financial Services administrator earlier this month, the state cryptocurrency regulator praised Libra, but indicated Facebook hasn’t made clear yet exactly how it’s going to work out maintaining Libra as a stablecoin.
Binance Exchanges The World
But that shouldn’t stop Binance. From the perspective of its global business strategy, adding more digital asset trading pairs like BTC/LBR to Binance’s massive and always-growing marketplace is a business decision the company shouldn’t pass up. Bin Chao says:
“However, from what we understand the potential to be, that would lead [Facebook] to wanting a secondary market [for Libra coin]. Currencies benefit from a secondary market, so it would be in their best interest to want to be listed.”
They’re also eyeing the competition:
“It wouldn’t just be in [Facebook’s] interest to list their coin on our exchange. It would also be in their interest to list on other exchanges as well and that’s probably going to happen. So if they decide to go on a public chain, and they get the sort of adoption that they could get, we would probably want to list them.”
I’m old enough to remember JPMorgan Coin
— Brian Kelly (@BKBrianKelly) June 25, 2019
The general reception of the crypto indusry to Libra has been a mix of scorn and enthusiasm. Many have made snickering comparisons to JP Morgan’s toothless corporate stable coin.
Others like the Winklevoss twins have welcomed the publicity and validation Libra has brought to the crypto industry.
