Against the backdrop of continued macroeconomic volatility and increasing regulatory pressure, Binance has demonstrated unique resilience and adaptability with its prudent and flexible approach.
Written by ChandlerZ, Foresight News
Getting started is never an easy thing. Whether in the early stages of an industry’s development or in an environment full of market uncertainty and external pressure, every breakthrough requires hard work.
Strong people are good at seizing opportunities, and they know how to follow the trend and find new breakthroughs in the changes. When the momentum is formed, how to take advantage of it is even more critical.
This is precisely the spiritual core that Binance demonstrated in 2024: based on hardcore efforts, combined with a user-first approach, free exploration, collaborative work, and humble progress, to practice the mission of promoting the global crypto industry's development. In the context of global economic fluctuations and increasing regulatory pressure, Binance showcased strong resilience and adaptability, defining the industry's benchmark for the year with concrete actions.
At the beginning of the year, Bitcoin broke historical highs with an unstoppable momentum, bringing the crypto market back into the global financial spotlight. Market sentiment entered a correction after a brief frenzy, and Bitcoin subsequently fell into a wide-ranging fluctuation period lasting six months, with investors wavering between optimism and hesitation. However, this adjustment did not extinguish the potential of the crypto market. Until the second half of the year, the 'Trump trade' became a key catalyst for reversing the situation. Bitcoin strongly broke through $100,000, boosting market confidence and leading the total market capitalization of the entire crypto industry to break through the $3 trillion mark, once again validating the growth resilience and global appeal of crypto assets.
The entire industry has also welcomed explosive growth. According to data from The Block, as of December 23, the total trading volume of cryptocurrency exchanges reached $18.2 trillion for the year. As the industry leader, Binance played a crucial role in this historical process, accounting for 39.42% of global trading volume, with a total trading amount of up to $7.2 trillion for the year.
Whether in trading depth, user base, or platform service efficiency, Binance firmly controls the key direction of industry development.
Riding the wave
Deepening user services, balancing exploration and refinement
Users are always the starting point and driving force behind Binance's development.
In 2024, Binance has elevated its service capabilities and user value to new heights through deep cultivation of mature markets and bold expansion into emerging markets. In mature markets, Binance has solidified user loyalty with precise technical support and efficient operations; in emerging markets, regions represented by Latin America are becoming a new engine for Binance's global strategy.
Users in mature markets are more focused on the stability of trading systems and the efficiency of services. According to Binance CEO Richard Teng, user deposits reached $21.6 billion in 2024, far exceeding competitors. The average Bitcoin deposit increased from 0.36 BTC to 1.65 BTC, while USDT deposits surged from $19,600 to $230,000.
Source: DefiLlama, January to December 2024
According to DefiLlama's data, Binance's user deposits are nearly 40% higher than the total inflow of $15.9 billion from the next 10 exchanges.
On the other hand, Latin America has become the focus of Binance's strategic expansion into emerging markets. According to Chainalysis's 2023 Global Cryptocurrency Adoption Index, Latin America is home to some of the highest-ranking countries in grassroots cryptocurrency adoption, with Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico ranking 9th, 15th, and 16th globally. Binance, focusing on localization, quickly shifted Latin America from a regional testing ground to the center of its global strategy.
In July, Binance appointed Guilherme Nazar, who successfully led Binance's Brazil operations, as the head of the Latin America region. He quickly advanced regional planning, elevating the status of the Latin American market from a testing ground to a global strategic core. Subsequently, Binance launched new trading pairs for the Mexican Peso and Colombian Peso, providing local users with more convenient trading options, and further supplemented trading pairs for the Argentine Peso and Brazilian Real to cover core needs in the region.
Whether deepening in mature markets or exploring emerging markets, Binance's service logic has always revolved around 'creating greater value for users.' This combination of exploration and refinement forms a dual driving force for Binance's global service system, establishing a strong competitive advantage for the platform in a complex market environment.
Trading: Based on fundamentals
Whether in the fluctuations of the spot market or changes in the derivatives market, the global crypto trading market in 2024 showed a complex and variable pattern. Against this backdrop, Binance remains at the top of the industry with strong market power and flexible strategies, demonstrating strong dominance and growth potential in both spot and derivatives markets.
According to data from The Block, the spot market experienced dramatic fluctuations in 2024, with trading volume rapidly climbing in the first half and reaching a peak again in the second half. In March, the global centralized exchanges' spot trading volume reached $2.5 trillion, doubling from February and reaching the highest level since November 2021. However, under the influence of low market sentiment, spot trading volume dropped below $1 trillion in October, showing the market's uncertainty. Until November, the 'Trump market' drove a rebound in sentiment, boosting trading volume to $2.71 trillion, setting a new annual high.
In this turbulent market environment, Binance has maintained its leading position thanks to its exceptional operational capabilities. Data shows that from February to May, Binance's share in the global spot trading market remained above 40%, with March alone processing $1.13 trillion in trading volume. This performance far exceeds other competitors, fully demonstrating Binance's advantages in liquidity, product appeal, and user stickiness.
The derivatives market became another important engine for Binance's growth in 2024. For example, Bitcoin futures had a total trading volume of $20.61 trillion for the year, while Binance, with its excellent trading infrastructure and diverse product design, accounted for $7.579 trillion in trading volume, maintaining a monthly market share stable between 32%-42%, with an average annual share of 36.8%.
Even in months with lower trading volumes, such as July, Binance still delivered impressive results, processing $620 billion in trading volume, accounting for 34.4%. In high-volatility months like March, Binance's market share exceeded 40%, demonstrating its high adaptability to market fluctuations.
Through stable growth in the spot market and multidimensional expansion in the derivatives market, Binance further reinforced its core position as a global cryptocurrency exchange in 2024. Whether it's providing liquidity support during high market volatility or proactive product structuring, Binance reflects deep insights into industry changes and the ability to respond rapidly.
In an increasingly competitive global crypto market, Binance's continuous breakthroughs in liquidity management, market depth, and product diversity mark the transformation trend of crypto exchanges from single trading platforms to diversified financial service providers.
Binance's successful experience also provides a direction worth pondering for the industry: only by achieving precise balance among technology, operations, and market demand can exchanges maintain a leading position in a market environment full of uncertainties.
Seizing the opportunity
Solidifying the foundation of trust
In recent years, the crypto industry has entered a critical transformation period centered on security and compliance. The rapid expansion of the market and increasingly stringent regulatory requirements have driven trading platforms to shift from purely transactional services to building a trust ecosystem. Balancing user asset security with global compliance has become an important proposition for industry development.
Seizing this opportunity, Binance consolidates its industry leadership through comprehensive technical protection and robust global compliance strategies, injecting a more solid foundation of trust into the entire crypto ecosystem.
The security of user assets has always been the core of competitive advantage for trading platforms. Binance successfully recovered $9.1 million in funds in 2014, with total loss prevention exceeding $129 million, adding over 47,000 malicious addresses to its blacklist, and sending more than 15,000 alerts to users daily, indicating its highly mature technological capabilities in financial crime prevention.
All of this is thanks to Binance's continuous optimization of its security system. From real-time trading monitoring to advanced threat detection, Binance has built a comprehensive security protection network and continually improves its efficiency in combating financial crime through deep cooperation with international law enforcement agencies. Strengthening the KYC and KYB processes further provides stronger assurances for user identity verification and trading compliance.
Furthermore, compliance is no longer just a 'defensive tool' for exchanges; it is a key driving force for market expansion and trust building. As of January 2025, Binance has successfully obtained licenses or registrations in 21 jurisdictions globally, including major markets like Brazil, Argentina, France, Japan, and Dubai. For example, in Argentina, Binance has been included in the registration center for virtual asset service providers by the National Securities Commission (CNV), officially opening all services, laying a solid foundation for its deep expansion in emerging markets like Latin America. At the same time, Binance has made key regulatory progress in emerging markets like India and Kazakhstan, and this proactive engagement with local regulations not only reduces compliance risks but also provides important guarantees for long-term development.
To adapt to the constantly changing regulatory environment, Binance significantly expanded its compliance and risk teams in 2024. By the end of the year, the compliance team is expected to reach 645 members, a 34% increase from 2023. Several new leaders come from traditional finance and regulatory agencies, bringing rich experience and deep expertise. For example, Todd McElduff, Chief Compliance Officer, and Lana Sinelnikova, Director of Business Compliance and Enterprise-Wide Risk Assessment (EWRA), both have profound experience in anti-financial crime and trading product compliance, providing strong support for Binance to navigate complex regulatory environments.
Binance has also strengthened its compliance capabilities in different jurisdictions through regional team building. In places like France and Turkey, Binance has recruited several experienced compliance and investigation experts. Céline Inial, a former cryptocurrency specialist investigator for the French National Gendarmerie, is now responsible for special investigations in Binance France; while Caner Akyürek serves as a special investigation expert in Turkey, with over 18 years of experience in cybercrime investigations. This regional team configuration effectively enhances its local compliance responsiveness and provides comprehensive support for complex multi-regional operations.
The future of ecosystem incubation empowers
As an important driving force for industry innovation, Binance continuously injects momentum into the Web3 ecosystem through Binance Labs and the Launchpool platform. From underlying infrastructure to cutting-edge applications, Binance's investment and incubation strategy covers multiple key tracks, opening up broader possibilities for industry development.
Binance Labs' investment practices globally have become the core engine of innovation in the blockchain industry. As of now, Binance Labs has invested in over 200 projects across more than 25 countries on six continents. In 2024, Binance Labs will focus on key areas such as decentralized finance, cross-chain interoperability, and the integration of artificial intelligence and blockchain.
In the fields of decentralized finance and staking, projects like Puffer and Babylon improve liquidity mechanisms, providing efficient solutions for PoS networks; in the cross-chain interoperability track, projects like Rango and Particle Network significantly enhance the connectivity and data circulation efficiency of multi-chain networks. Additionally, the integration of artificial intelligence and blockchain has also become a key direction, with projects like Sahara AI and Solayer exploring how to apply decentralized networks to AI computing power allocation and social ecosystems, providing practical examples for the convergence of future technologies. This comprehensive layout covering infrastructure and application scenarios demonstrates Binance's precise grasp of industry trends.
Launchpool, on the other hand, enhances user participation and project incubation capabilities from another dimension. Data shows that Binance Launchpool has completed token launches for 100 projects, attracting nearly 6 million independent users, with locked funds exceeding $1.17 billion. The unique advantage of this platform lies in connecting user resources directly with emerging projects, forming efficient capital circulation and user support.
For example, projects like SAGA, ALT, XAI, Manta, and Usual gained significant market attention through the Launchpool release, while also achieving significant value growth after issuance.
Binance's core competitiveness in the incubation ecosystem is reflected not only in its extensive investment layout but also in the deep integration of users, projects, and industry development. Behind this series of actions is Binance's profound understanding of the future direction of blockchain. By supporting full-chain development from infrastructure to innovative applications, Binance not only solidifies its industry position but also promotes the comprehensive evolution of the Web3 ecosystem.
Wisdom in adapting to circumstances
Currently, the crypto market is gradually moving from 'fringe innovation' to the core stage of the global financial system. At this turning point, Binance is both a witness and a promoter of the industry.
In the rapidly changing industry environment, Binance consistently demonstrates the confidence of steady development and the wisdom to adapt to the situation. This year, Binance has found a unique balance between user needs and technological innovation with a pragmatic and open posture.
