Despite reports from the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that China accounts for about 20% of Binance’s trading volume, the exchange told CryptoSlate in an Aug. 2 email that its website is blocked in the country and its platform is unavailable to China-based users.
China reportedly accounts for $90B of Binance’s volume
Earlier today, WSJ reported that China remains Binance’s largest market, with the Asian country contributing over $90 billion worth of spot and futures trading volume in May. The report cited an internal platform at Binance named “Mission Control,” adding that most of the volume came from futures trading.
As per the report, the exchange regularly collaborates with Chinese authorities to identify and address potential illicit activities within its extensive user base, comprising over 900,000 active accounts. As of May, the exchange had 5.6 million registered users in the country.
Meanwhile, the report noted that Binance recorded significant trading volumes in South Korea, Turkey, Vietnam, and the British Virgin Islands.
How Binance helped Chinese users circumvent restrictions
Citing internal documents, WSJ reported how Binance allegedly assisted its Chinese users in bypassing restrictions. The method involved directing these users to visit certain websites with Chinese domain names, which subsequently rerouted them to the global exchange platform.
The report further noted that Binance CEO Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao promoted a Palau program that sold residency cards to foreigners as part of efforts to help its Chinese users. However, the exchange later dropped its association with the project.
Additionally, the exchange’s Chinese users used Virtual Private Networks (VPN) to bypass the restrictions imposed by China’s government crypto ban.
Binance previously denied China’s presence.
While the exchange failed to provide further commentary on China’s trading volume, Binance has extensively denied its links to the Asian country.
In March, Binance told CryptoSlate that it does not operate in China, nor does it have any technology, including servers or data, based in the Asian country. At the time, the exchange further said it had never been registered or incorporated in China.
Zhao has also consistently denied any links to China, arguing that critics use his place of birth and his ethnicity to FUD the exchange.
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