Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, saw its market share drop to an annual low of 44% in September, according to the latest report by CoinGecko, a leading crypto data aggregator.
The report, which covers the crypto industry’s performance in the third quarter of 2023 (July to September), shows that Binance faced increasing regulatory scrutiny and exited several markets, affecting its dominance among centralized exchanges.
This series of events led to a significant reduction in its market share, which plummeted to its lowest annual level of 44%, a stark contrast to its annual peak of 66% recorded in February.
The report also reveals that the entire exchange industry shrank in Q3, with trading volume on centralized exchanges falling by 20% compared to the previous quarter. The top 10 crypto exchanges traded a total of $1,120 billion in the turbulent quarter.
Binance Was the Most Affected by Regulatory Escrutiny
Huobi (now renamed HTX) was the only exchange in the top 10 that increased its volume by 86.9% compared to Q2, reaching a total of $35.3 billion. Huobi regained its place in the top 10 and rose to third place by volume, ending September with a market share of 8%.
Upbit and Bybit were the other two exchanges that gained market share in the top 10, rising to 4.6% and 6.9% respectively. Coinbase ranked fourth, while Kucoin dropped out of the top 10.
The report also analyzes the performance of cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and other aspects of the crypto sector in Q3.
The total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies shrank by $119 billion, or almost 10%, on a quarterly basis. However, this data does not take into account the significant pump that occurred in the last few days of September.
TrueUSD (TUSD) also moved up from 23rd to 19th place, partly taking the place of Binance USD (BUSD), which slipped from 18th to 27th place due to Binance’s announcement that it would ditch the coin by February 2024.
The market cap of the top 15 stablecoins fell by -3.8% in Q3 to $121.3 billion. Tether (USDT) remained unchanged and increased its market share among stablecoins by 2.6%. USD Coin (USDC) saw the biggest losses with -8.3%, while PayPal USD (PYUSD) jumped to ninth place among stablecoins with +113.2%.
CoinGecko concludes its report by stating: “Despite the crypto market’s low momentum in an eventful Q3, we are encouraged by signs that TradFi and DeFi are moving closer. Heading into the end of 2023, we’re clearer than ever that crypto needs to chart its own path forward.”
