Paxos announced to stop stamping Binance stablecoin by a New York controller

February 15, 2023: -Cryptocurrency company Paxos will cease issuing new Binance USD, or BUSD, stablecoins regarding the direction of New York state’s fiscal regulator, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao said Monday. Paxos’ stablecoin was not impacted.

On Monday, the New York State Department of Fiscal Services issued the order “as a result of many unresolved issues related to Paxos’ oversight of its connection with Binance,” the regulator said in a consumer alert.

“We were informed by Paxos that they have been directed to cease recent minting BUSD by the New York Department of the Fiscal Services,” Zhao stated on Twitter. BUSD is a dollar-pegged stablecoin of Binance, with every BUSD worth one dollar, and it is operated on Binance to trade cryptocurrencies, which include ether and bitcoin.

“Effective February 21, Paxos will stop issuance of new BUSD tokens as directed by and putting in close coordination regarding the New York Department of Fiscal Services,” Paxos stated, adding that it would “end its relationship regarding Binance for the branded stablecoin BUSD.”

Paxos’ BUSD product is created on the Ethereum blockchain and backed each by U.S. Treasurys and Treasury Reverse Repurchase deals, with Paxos reporting a few $16 billion in holdings as of January 31. Paxos’ BUSD product is connected to, but separate from, Binance’s self-issued Binance-pegged BUSD.

Binance’s self-issued BUSD, which NYDFS does not directly regulate, is independently wrapped and taken out by the crypto exchange on blockchains beyond Ethereum. In different words, Binance will be taking a single Paxos-issued BUSD, making an analogous BUSD on another blockchain (like Binance’s own blockchain, for instance), and freezing a corresponding Paxos-issued BUSD.

“The Department has not allowed Binance-Peg BUSD on any blockchain, and Paxos does not issue Binance-Peg BUSD,” NYDFS said.

The move is the latest in a decreasing regulatory effort reining the free-wheeling crypto enterprise. The previous week, the Securities and Exchange Commission agreed with crypto exchange Kraken over allegations of unregistered offers and sales in connection with Kraken’s crypto-staking platform.

“This action does not affect our ability to keep serving new or existing customers, our continued dedication to increase our staff or fund our business objectives,” Paxos displayed.