Bitfinex has decided to reduce the Tether/USD (USDt/USD) fees to zero for users who generate a monthly trading volume in excess of $15 million.
The offer applies to both maker and taker orders and will be applied automatically when a Bitfinex account reaches the minimum level required over the last 30 days.
This minimum level reveals that the offer is only intended for large investors and Bitfinex, in this respect, is increasingly presenting itself as a high-level platform, aimed at professional users who handle significant capital.
Bitfinex is also the platform that releases more USDt on the market. These tokens are generated by Tether, which is an affiliate of Bitfinex, and are issued through the USDt/USD trading pair of the exchange.
Therefore, the zeroing of trading fees on this pair makes it possible to trade dollars with Tether, and vice versa, at no cost, although only for those who trade large volumes on Bitfinex.
This could particularly encourage arbitrage, i.e. the possibility of making profits by buying and selling USDt in USD at prices differing from $1.
In other words, if the price of USDt is higher than $1, USDt holders may be tempted to sell it even at a price only slightly higher than $1, assuming there are no commission costs. On the other hand, if the price of the token falls even slightly below $1, the USDt holder may be tempted to buy USDt.
The CTO of Bitfinex, Paolo Ardoino, commented:
“As a growing hub for professional traders in the digital asset space, Bitfinex is an exchange that is always listening to our user base. This zero fees offering on the USDt/USD pair makes arbitrage and market making across USD and USDt pairs more effective and also represents a way of rewarding our active, high volume customers for their loyalty”.
