First Coin

Binance Holds Most USD1 Stablecoin Supply, Forbes Says

A Forbes article published on February 9, 2026 says that most USD1 tokens are kept on Binance. USD1 is a stablecoin linked to the Trump family project. A large part of its money is on one exchange. Specifically, Forbes reports that about 87% of USD1 is held by Binance users. This means that a big share of USD1’s total supply sits on Binance, rather than on many different places.

To explain simply, think of USD1 as a digital version of a stack of dollars that is kept in a safe and used on the internet. When people say a lot of USD1 is on Binance, they mean a large part of that safe is in Binance’s hands or in Binance accounts that users control on the platform.

Forbes calculated that Binance controls around $4.7 billion of the $5.4 billion USD1 supply. They based this on Arkham Intelligence data. This share is larger than the share of any single exchange for other big, well-known stablecoins. The report notes that the holdings described include both wallets controlled by Binance and ordinary customer balances. It is not clear how much of the amount belongs to Binance itself as the company and its customers share the same digital bags of USD1.

USD1 came to life in March 2025. World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture with ties to people linked to former President Donald Trump, started the token. Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the founder of Binance, was among the first to publicly share the news. The project’s governance token is called WLFI. In governance systems, token holders can vote on how the project is run and how profits are shared. Trump himself is listed as co-founder emeritus. Some entities connected to him can receive a large portion of WLFI proceeds from the project’s decisions and rules.

The concentration of USD1 on Binance drew criticism. Independent researcher Molly White told Forbes that putting many USD1 coins in one place creates a theoretical risk. If there are legal or operational problems, a large amount of assets could be affected at once. Corey Frayer, a former adviser to the chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), asked whether USD1 was meant to be a broad, widely used stablecoin, or something with a narrower purpose. He questioned the design and goals of USD1.

CZ Zhao responded to critics on social media with a short message. He wrote that Binance users hold the largest share of most stablecoins, including USDT, USDC, USD1, and others. He said this is not a surprising or unusual situation on major exchanges. In his view, many users keep their stablecoins on Binance because it is a popular choice among traders and holders.

People are watching Zhao and Binance closely now. This fits into a larger look at the company and its leader. Zhao faced legal trouble earlier, and in October 2025 he received a presidential pardon. This pardon came after he had pleaded guilty in 2023 to compliance issues related to anti-money-laundering controls. His lawyers have argued that the case was about rules and regulation, not political favors. In a November 2025 interview, Zhao’s attorney said the matter was regulatory in nature and did not involve political help.

Some observers describe a pattern of fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) surrounding Zhao and Binance. FUD is a phrase people use to describe negative rumors or worries about a market or company. Earlier in the month, Zhao revealed a false social media account that pretended to be him. The fake account used AI-generated pictures of Zhao to first seem like a supporter and then spread negative feelings about the exchange. An AI analysis report also claimed there was a deliberately organized smear campaign against Binance.

Market data supports Zhao’s claim that Binance has big influence in crypto. A CryptoQuant report from January showed Binance had about 41% of spot trading volume on top exchanges in 2025. It also had about 42% of Bitcoin perpetual futures trading. Perpetual futures are a kind of contract that allows traders to bet on the price of Bitcoin without a fixed end date. In another sign of dominance, Binance held about 72% of the combined reserves of USDT and USDC on major platforms. This supports Zhao’s argument that a large amount of user money on the exchange is not unusual in today’s market.

The original article about these numbers appeared on CryptoPotato, a site that reports on cryptocurrency news and analysis.

Why this matters

People are discussing USD1 and Binance because both are part of the larger crypto world, which includes many different coins, exchanges, and rules. A single exchange holding most of a stablecoin can raise questions about safety, regulation, and how the token will be used in the future. Some worry that if something goes wrong with Binance or USD1, a lot of money tied to USD1 could become difficult to access or move quickly. Others argue that large user activity on Binance is simply a sign of how popular the platform is among traders and investors.

Glossary and quick explanations

To help readers new to these topics, here are simple explanations of some terms used in this article. Each term links to a longer explanation on Wikipedia so you can learn more when you want to.

Note: The above glossary uses simple language to explain terms. If you want a more detailed explanation, you can read the linked Wikipedia pages.