By: Eva Baxter
In a significant revamp to its product offerings, the major crypto exchange Binance has announced cessation of support for Bitcoin-based Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) on its marketplace by April 18, according to a statement released by the platform. All impacted listing orders will be automatically cancelled at the specified time while airdrops, benefits, or other utilities associated with the NFTs will also stop being supported by April 10.
While high trading volumes or user demand might influence such decision, Binance affirms this move is part of efforts to streamline their NFT marketplace amidst regulatory upheavals and restructuring of their operational style. In parallel with these developments, the outlook for Binance's native token BNB has turned cloudy, as negative funding rates and declining open interest in BNB futures indicate growing pessimism among traders. Data from Coinglass suggests that negative sentiments may cause the total amount of outstanding futures contracts to plummet further, potentially signaling a price drop for BNB.
This news comes despite Bitcoin-based NFTs experiencing substantial growth lately, primarily driven by Ordinals. Advances within the Bitcoin ecosystem have led to significant innovations, popularly in Bitcoin NFTs, new fungible token standards and Layer 2 solutions, indicating that Bitcoin's NFT market is thriving with sales reaching $6.37 million within the past 24 hours.