An Interview With Binance’s OTC Service

If you’re an avid cryptocurrency trader, you surely know about the global cryptocurrency exchange, Binance. But, do you know that Binance has an over-the-counter (OTC) service where you could buy a wide range of cryptocurrencies in large amounts at a fixed rate?

We reached out to Leslie from Binance OTC, who gave us the honor of answering some questions to learn more about its offerings:

1) Hello Leslie, thanks for taking the time to speak with us. Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

Thanks for having me here! I joined Binance in late 2018 to help build out our OTC services. Prior to that, I was working in the traditional finance sector for over 15 years, leading various global markets roles at investment banks.I had been following the cryptocurrency market closely before joining Binance, and in many ways, OTC trading in cryptocurrency is similar to my previous work experience and traditional finance markets. Finally, I decided to take the leap! It has been an exciting journey so far, and I hope I got in at the early mark!

2) This question is for beginners,what exactly is an OTC service?

OTC stands for over-the-counter. OTC trades are done directly between two parties, and not on an exchange. There are a lot of different assets that trade on OTC markets such as bonds, gold, foreign exchanges and stamps, among many others.

3) What are the requirements a user has to meet before purchasing an OTC trade from Binance?

Binance OTC trades directly on the Binance.com platform, so all you need is a level-2 verified account. Prior to trading, we run some additional KYC checks to ensure the account meets the requirements to trade.

4) Can users also sell cryptocurrency via Binance’s OTC service?

Our service covers most coins listed on Binance. Users can buy-and-sell coins in block amounts. We currently have a 20 BTC size minimum for trades.

5) What are the benefits of using Binance’s OTC service?

I believe there are a number of benefits to trading OTC vs on the exchange, including being able to trade a large quantity in one go. This has a few advantages:

• You are able to lock in a price before the market moves significantly.
• You save time (otherwise, you could be trading and clicking manually for a long time).
• Large trades are less likely to affect market prices than trading directly on an exchange.

In addition, there are a few specific advantages to trading with Binance OTC over others:

• All trades are conducted on the Binance platform, which keeps the settlement process simple and secure. Coins are swapped in and out of your account directly.
• Altcoin liquidity: A majority of other cryptocurrency OTC desks quote the larger coins (BTC, ETH mainly), but we are able to show and quote prices on many smaller coins.

6) What are the future plans for the Binance OTC service?

Our aim is to make our services as helpful as possible for all our clients. This includes:

• Improved systems for quicker and sharper pricing.
• Increasing client base.After all, the more clients we have, our distribution network improves and better pricing is offered.

We always welcome and love suggestions on how to make it better. This is a very new space and we are very open-minded to what works and what doesn’t for our OTC users. You can share your feedback and questions on our official Telegram group: https://t.me/BinanceOTC

7) Currently, which cryptocurrency has the highest OTC demand?

In terms of volumes, BTC to stablecoin pairs are still the most popular. But, in altcoin trading, the interest has been very broad across the board; we have traded over 40 different altcoins in the past three months.

8) Have you also traded for institutions or only to individual traders?

We service a large range of clients, including individual investors, projects, algo funds, cryptocurrency funds and other cryptocurrency OTC desks, among others.

9) Do you think OTC trading will be something that will attract more financial institutions into the cryptocurrency industry?

For institutions to really enter the cryptocurrency markets, the space still needs to further mature. This will be led by use cases for tokens and ‘killer apps’ in this emerging asset class, once it has matured.

Exchanges and OTC desks are just different ways of trading cryptocurrency, depending on specific needs, and similarly to how you can trade stocks on and off exchanges.

But, when institutional money thoroughly comes into the cryptocurrency market, I do expect institutional flows to increase in tandem as clients look for more avenues to trade in large blocks of coins”

Thank you Leslie for the answers and explanations. If you’re interested to speak with Leslie to purchase or sell cryptocurrencies via Binance’s Trading services you can find him and his colleague on https://t.me/BinanceOTC or at [email protected].

Just remember, they won’t contact you first. Anyone claiming that its a Binance OTC representative and cannot be found on the Binance Trading Desk telegram list is a fraud and will probably try to scam you. Be safe!