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Binance, a prominent cryptocurrency exchange, has announced its decision to discontinue support for Bitcoin non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on its marketplace by April 18, as stated in an April 4 announcement.
Effective April 18, users will no longer have the option to buy, deposit, bid on, or list NFTs on the Binance NFT Marketplace via the Bitcoin network, according to the exchange. Additionally, all impacted listing orders will be automatically canceled at 06:00 (UTC) on April 18. Furthermore, support for airdrops, benefits, or other utilities associated with the Bitcoin NFTs will cease by April 10.
The move comes less than a year after Binance initially enabled support for these digital assets and is attributed to the exchange’s ongoing efforts to streamline its product offerings within the NFT marketplace. However, Binance did not provide details regarding whether trading volumes or user demand influenced the decision.
Although the NFT marketplace enjoyed early success, particularly due to its association with the exchange and public figures like Cristiano Ronaldo, it has faced challenges in garnering significant adoption compared to competitors like Blur.
Binance is also contending with regulatory hurdles in various jurisdictions, including a record fine of over $4 billion in the United States and a cessation of operations within the country. Consequently, the exchange has been reassessing its operational approach, including the appointment of a seven-member board of directors led by Gabriel Abed, the former ambassador of Barbados to the UAE.
Despite Binance’s decision to end support for Bitcoin NFTs, the broader market for Bitcoin-based NFTs continues to thrive. Innovations within Bitcoin’s ecosystem, including Ordinals (Bitcoin NFTs), new fungible tokens standards like BRC-20 and Runes, Bitcoin Layer 2s, and other Bitcoin DeFi primitives, have contributed to this growth. Data from CryptoSlam indicates that Bitcoin NFT sales amounted to $6.37 million within the past 24 hours, marking the second-highest figure in the industry.
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