European Crypto Exchange is starting to charge users for inactivity

In the midst of declining trading volume in crypto, there are exchanges that are mainly dependent on transaction fees to generate income versus declining income.

Yesterday, UK-based Bitstamp Limited, a subsidiary of Bitstamp, one of the oldest cryptocurrencies still in operation, announced to users that they will start charging an inactivity fee from August 1, 2022 to all accounts that have not been active for over 12 months and has a balance below € 200.

The fee of € 10 per month will be charged in euros or digital assets. For accounts with more than € 0, users will first be charged in Euros. If the euro balance is not sufficient to cover the fee, Bitstamp will charge similarly in other fiat and cryptocurrencies. Customers of Bitstamp.US, the US branch of the cryptocurrency exchange, will not incur inactivity fees.

“No one loves fees (neither do we!), But having inactive accounts on the books is a cost, and in order for us to continue to provide good services to all our customers, we made the difficult decision to implement the inactivity fee,” said the Luxembourg-based stock exchange in a blog post on Friday. Users can buy or sell crypto, make a deposit or withdrawal, or deposit assets into Bitstamp’s rewards program – Bitstamp Earn – to avoid being subject to the fees.

Although this type of announcement is relatively new to crypto, it is common in the traditional banking world where users must maintain a minimum account balance or perform certain activities over a period of time to avoid service charges.

Bitstamp is not the only company that starts this type of fees. Crypto.com charges inactivity fees on fiat wallets, and Voyager Digital’s partnership with MastercardMA
charges a fee of $ 6.95 after 12 months without card use. The Toronto-based crypto brokerage house filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy late Tuesday night.

Bitstamp is currently ranked 29th on Forbes’ list of best global crypto exchanges. From March 2022, it offers 53 coins and 134 markets.

After reaching the peak of daily transaction volumes north of $ 1 billion in the midst of the market hype at the end of 2021 which saw bitcoin approaching $ 70,000, it fell almost 90%. According to data provider Nomics, its total trading volume over the last 24 hours is over $ 165 million.