Cryptocurrency exchange halves its deposit rates
International cryptocurrency exchange CEX.IO has announced a 50% fee reduction for British pound deposits made with UK-issued credit and debit cards.
By cutting the commissions for GBP deposits, CEX.IO seeks to pay homage to its home market while supporting the organic growth of British pound currency trading on the cryptocurrency exchange.
Based on the company’s data, the number of users exchanging currencies with the BTC/GBP service has increased by 68% from the second half of 2019 to the first half of 2020 on the CEX.IO platform.
Moreover, in the past two years, CEX.IO experienced a three-fold increase in the number of users choosing GBP as the base currency for trading on the exchange platform.
With the new cut in commission rates, CEX.IO charges 1.49% – instead of the standard 2.99% – for GBP deposits made with credit or debit cards issued in the United Kingdom to fit the needs of its growing international user base.
In addition to the lowered card fees, UK residents also benefit from the Faster Payments service, where users can deposit and withdraw funds the same day and free of charge into their CEX.IO accounts.
While Faster Payments and cheaper card deposits are only available for residents of the United Kingdom, non-UK users can also trade GBP-cryptocurrency pairs on the CEX.IO platform, which they can exchange later into their preferred fiat currency for withdrawals.
Konstantin Anissimov, executive director at CEX.IO, said: “We have seen a recent rise in GBP trading activity and our user base in the UK.
“Taking this increase as well as the fact that the United Kingdom is our home market, we have introduced a 50% fee cut for GBP card deposits on the CEX.IO platform. With this move, we want to make deposits even more convenient for UK residents while supporting the organic growth in user activity.”
CEX.IO is also supporting a new USDT/GBP trading pair on its exchange platform. As a result and amid rising interest in the stablecoin on the cryptocurrency exchange platform, UK citizens can now use their national fiat currency to purchase USDT conveniently on CEX.IO to benefit from fast, cost-efficient, and third-party-free transfers within and across borders.
With the support of the new USDT/GBP trading pair, CEX.IO users can now use British pounds to buy and sell 16 different cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), MetaHashCoin (MHC), Litecoin (LTC), Ripple (XRP), Cardano (ADA), Neo, GAS, Cosmos (ATOM), Basic Attention Token (BAT), Tezos (XTZ), USDT, WABI, Matic Network (MATIC), and ChainLink (LINK).
UK citizens can use multiple payment methods to deposit funds into their CEX.IO accounts, including credit and debit cards, Faster Payments, and SWIFT transfers. Deposits and withdrawals via Faster Payments are free.
Anissimov said: “USDT is a stablecoin that allows convenient value transfers – both within and across national borders – without any third-parties involved in the process.
“Ever since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have been experiencing a steady increase in USDT-based settlements on our platform. In addition to that, the United Kingdom has officially left the European Union, which changes how payments are done between the UK and the EEA.
“Taking all this into account, we have decided to add a new USDT/GBP trading pair on our exchange platform to support convenient cross-border stablecoin transfers.”
USDT also allows arbitrage activity to help even out the stablecoin’s prices between cryptocurrency exchanges.
In addition to providing liquidity to the exchanges as well as promoting market efficiency, arbitrage enables traders to make potential profits by taking advantage of the USDT price difference between various cryptocurrency exchanges.