Binance Lists Blockstack (STX) After A $250k Payment In STX

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a new filing which reveals that Binance lists Blockstack (STX) after the exchange received a $250,000 “long-term payment” to keep the token listed for one year.

The SEC filing by Blockstack reveals that Binance received 833,333 in STX, the native token of Blockstack. The current value with the $0.30 token valuation provided by the company is equivalent to $250,000. The document showing that Binance lists Blockstack also shows that the company wants to pay Binance even more.

“[Blockstack] will pay three additional incremental payments of 833,333 each, on the first, second and third anniversaries of the Services Agreement’s effective date provided the Stacks Token is continuously listed on Binance prior to each such date. In addition, the Company will pay Binance a USD $100,000 payment for Binance’s marketing services.”

The filing also follows an October 23 announcement which was in the Binance news, stating that the exchange did not charge a listing fee for adding Blockstack’s token to its platform. When asked to clarify the apparent contradiction between the SEC filing and its announcement, a Binance spokesperson told the media that the $250,000 payment received by the exchange is not a listing fee – but a marketing fee that is Blockstack’s idea.

“A long term payment fee is an incentive proposed by Blockstack for Binance to keep the token listed on the exchange. This is a new payment fee proposed by Blockstack.”

Now that Binance lists Blockstack, there are a lot of comments regarding the “payment.” However, the exchange also provided a comment from Blockstack PBC CEO Muneeb Ali, who explained that the standard agreement includes a listing fee which is referred to as the “Technical Integration Fee.” This fee was $0 in the instance, which is what Binance clearly stated in the announcement. Ali said:

“The ‘Long-term Payment’ is something new that is not part of Binance standard agreements and it was an idea that I had and I proposed it to them. This long-term payment is meant to watch out for the Blockstack ecosystem by incentivizing Binance to list Stacks over many years and aligns well with our long-term focus. The marketing fee is a joint marketing campaign that we plan to run later on, again that is not a ‘listing fee’ but a marketing campaign that we plan to launch in the near future.”

The CEO of Binance Changpeng Zhao recently announced that all the listing fees cashed in by the exchange would be donated to charity. The exchange will not only donate the fees but also let developers name the amount they pay without demanding any minimum fee at all.