Simon Dedic and Justin Sun Expose Crypto Listing Fee Practices

Highlights:

• Justin Sun claims Coinbase asked for $80M in TRX and a $250M BTC deposit to list TRON.
• Simon Dedic reveals that Binance requested 15% of the token supply for a project, raising concerns about high fees.
• Binance has denied the claims of fee bypassing and stated that it ensures strict processes. 

Justin Sun, founder of TRON, has made significant claims about Coinbase’s listing practices. He has commented that Coinbase demanded 500 million TRX from TRON for the token to be listed on Coinbase. Furthermore, in an attempt to boost the performance of the coin, Coinbase demanded a $250 million Bitcoin deposit that they would hold. These comments have further fuelled the discussion on listing fees from major exchanges.

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Exactly the same situation with us.

Binance charged us $0.

Coinbase required us to pay 500 million TRX (worth $80 million) and demanded a $250 million BTC deposit in Coinbase Custody to boost their performance.

Lots of respect. But this is simply not true.

— H.E. Justin Sun🌞(hiring) (@justinsuntron) November 4, 2024

The discussion started after Simon Dedic, CEO of Moonrock Capital, complained about the increased demands from centralized exchanges. Dedic said that a project with nine figures in its fundraising round encountered challenges during the due diligence with Binance. 

He said that Binance demanded 15% of the total tokens that were provided for the project’s listing. According to Dedic, these high demands make listings unaffordable for many firms, leading to financial strain and declining market charts.

Andre Cronje Adds to the Debate

In response, Coinbase’s CEO, Brian Armstrong, reminded everyone that listing on their exchange is completely free. He invited projects to apply through their platform. However, this statement was met with a lot of criticism by industry players. Armstrong’s claims were challenged by Andre Cronje, co-founder of Sonic Labs.

Cronje shared that Coinbase had requested fees between $60 million and $300 million over multiple years for different projects. He argued that these costs effectively acted as listing fees.

Cronje said that Binance had not been charging any fees for his projects. He compared this to his interaction with Coinbase, which he said constantly demanded significant amounts of money. Cronje even went further to say that he was willing to surrender emails and messages that he would use to support his statements.

Binance charged us $0.

Coinbase has asked us for; $300m, $50m, $30m, and more recently $60m.

Lots of respect. But this is simply not true.

— Andre Cronje (@AndreCronjeTech) November 3, 2024

He claimed that these high fees reduce the number of smaller projects that can get listings and increase the number of their users. This, in turn, poses major challenges for new venture creation.

Binance Responds to Fee Allegations

Binance co-founder Yi He responded to the ongoing discussion. She stressed that Binance does not bypass its rigorous KYC procedure irrespective of the provided fee or token. Yi He stated that money cannot be used to buy a listing on Binance regardless of the amount offered.

She invited the public to review token distribution data to verify the claims. According to Yi He, speculation often leads to misunderstandings about Binance’s practices.

#FUD If a project does not pass the screening process, it cannot be listed on Binance regardless of the amount of money or tokens involved.
#DYOR Binance has listed projects in the token distribution column, please analyze the percentage to know if there is a so-called 20%.… https://t.co/LYt3GU7PMT

— Yi He (@heyibinance) November 3, 2024

Her statement reinforced the idea that Binance follows a transparent process. The response highlighted the difference in approach between Binance and Coinbase. While Cronje and Sun pointed out Coinbase’s high demands, Binance appeared more flexible, at least according to these discussions.

Binance Partners with AWS

In a related development, Binance announced a partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS). The partnership aims to develop a better way of how to onboard users and providing better customer service through technology. Binance will use generative AI and cloud solutions of AWS to improve its services and performance. This step will help in simplifying know your customer (KYC) processes and tackle user concerns effectively.

Binance handles over 237 million registered users and countless daily transactions. The partnership aims to ensure a smooth experience for new users and provide quick issue resolution. Incorporating AWS technology shows that Binance is dedicated to utilizing both blockchain technology and advanced technology for the development of its users.

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