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The delisting process on Binance has recently evolved, and the case of Alpaca Finance (ALPACA) is a perfect example of how the exchange is handling assets that no longer meet its standards.

Here I explain the reasons behind this change and why they are using USDC as the "safe harbor" for users' funds.

1. Why was Alpaca delisted?

Binance conducts periodic reviews of all listed assets. In the case of ALPACA (whose trading ceased on May 2, 2025), the determining factors are usually:

  • Low liquidity and volume: If there aren't enough people trading the token, it becomes risky and easy to manipulate.

  • Project development: If the team behind the coin decreases their activity or fails to meet necessary technical updates.

  • Regulatory Compliance: Binance has been under a lot of pressure to clean up its catalog and comply with global regulations (such as MiCA in Europe).

2. Why the automatic switch to USDC?

Historically, when a coin was delisted, it simply ceased to exist on the platform, and if you didn't withdraw it in time to an external wallet, the balance remained "frozen" or was lost. Now, Binance has implemented an automatic conversion to USDC for various reasons:

  • Capital Protection: By converting a declining token (due to the delisting effect) to a stablecoin like USDC, the user's value is "frozen" in a dollar-pegged currency, preventing the balance from dropping to zero.

  • Standardization: Binance has been migrating its preference towards USDC (and at one point FDUSD) to move away from exclusive dependencies on USDT and comply with international regulations that require more transparent and audited stablecoins.

  • Wallet Cleanup: Many users have small amounts ("dust") of delisted coins. The automatic conversion allows those balances to become useful and liquid within the exchange.

3. The Conversion Process

If you have or had ALPACA, the process usually follows this timeline:

  1. Trading Cessation: You can no longer buy or sell.

  2. Withdrawal Period: Binance gives a time margin (generally a couple of months, in the case of ALPACA it was until July 2025) for users to move their coins to private wallets.

  3. Snapshot and Conversion: If you didn't move your coins, Binance takes a "snapshot" of the remaining balances and converts them to USDC based on the average exchange rate over a specified period (sometimes up to 6 months later).

    $BTC

    BTC
    BTC
    83,170.19
    -5.68%

    $USDC

    USDC
    USDC
    1.0014
    +0.02%