One of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges Binance has changed its listing fee policy. The exchange said that starting immediately, and going forward, it will make all listing fees transparent and donate 100% of them to charity. It added:

"Project teams will still propose the number they would like to provide for a “listing fee,” or now more appropriately called a “donation.” Binance will not dictate a number, nor is there a minimum required listing fee."

Earlier this year, a Bloomberg report citing research published by an industry analysis firm Autonomous Research said that cryptocurrency trading platforms may be charging 10 times more to list tokens than what traditional exchanges demand for securities. Costs for a crypto listing range from $1 million “for a reasonably regarded token, to $3 million for an opportunity to get quick liquidity,” Autonomous Research wrote, cautioning that the figures are based on conversations among market participants and aren’t exact. That compares with the roughly $125,000 to $300,000 -- plus $100,000 to $500,000 of annual fees -- that exchanges charge to list fully registered equities, the report said.

Binance charges listing fees depending on the project. It lets the project propose a number and then they review it together. Binance said it will continue to use the same standard for the listing review process and that a large donation does not guarantee or in any way influence the outcome of its listing review process.

In July of this year, Binance introduced an initiative -- Blockchain Charity Foundation (BCF), that aims to transform philanthropy where blockchain technology can be used to end all forms of poverty and inequality. The foundation is headed by Helen Hai, UNIDO goodwill ambassador, with Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, President of Malta as the Chair of its senior advisory board. The BCF works with government, institutional, and international NGO leadership to advocate policies, build coalitions, and develop decentralized solutions to help address both massive and local scale problems.

There is an estimated annual average of US$ 3.9 trillion of investment that needs to be deployed in developing countries in order to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. However, current investment levels of US$1.4 trillion a year leaves a gap of US$ 2.5 trillion annually; in 15 years, this will be a gap of more than US$40 trillion in total. The BCF aims to leverage the growing cryptocurrency markets to help fill this gap. Binance donated US$ 1 million to help out the victims in West Japan that were affected by the heavy rains on July 7, 2018.