Bitcoin Exchange LVL to eliminate trading fees to contend with Coinbase, Gemini
An announcement revealed that crypto exchange LVL will offer a full range of trading services free of charge. Supported by Morgan Creek Digital's proponents Jimmy Song and Willy Woo, and Anthony Pompliano. The exchange formerly had no trading costs, but only for its subscribers. LVL and Mastercard also formed a strategic partnership to roll out two debit cards in early 2021. Free-tier users can access the standard plastic debit card for a $10 issuing fee, while a metal Mastercard is provided with three months of Premium service from LVL.
LVL CEO Chris Slaughter commented,
“We’ve always been behind a subscription paywall but now we’re just making our entire service free to use...You can buy and sell bitcoin, you can use the plastic debit card. So now in North America, there’s a regulated exchange that’s 100% free to use.”
LVL pointed to the lack of competition in large U.S. exchanges such as Coinbase and Gemini that offer substantially identical price schemes. When it comes to the monopoly impact of these crypto exchanges, Slaughter said when it takes a scrappy minnow with just $2.5 million earned to date. Slaughter said that the exchange would make money from the charge of $3 for withdrawals, along with $5 for bank transactions and wires on the same day, which handle the exchange cost given to users and generates revenue for LVL.
