How a crypto startup quietly siphoned 470,000 Binance users to build a $4 billion card empire
Binance-affiliated entities sued RedotPay founders in Hong Kong, alleging RedotPay used a Binance partnership to divert over 470,000 Binance Card customers into a competing stablecoin card. Binance claims about $472.8 million in losses and says RedotPay received roughly $304 million in user funds through Binance Pay. RedotPay denies the claims and says operations are unaffected. The dispute highlights a broader stablecoin fight over who controls the customer relationship: the issuer, the wallet, or the card/app layer. Similar economics already appear in Coinbase’s USDC distribution deal with Circle, Visa’s and Stripe’s stablecoin-linked card infrastructure, and Mastercard’s planned BVNK acquisition. These partnerships determine who captures fees, reserve income, merchant data, rewards, and daily engagement. Users benefit from more options, but they also face fragility when partner rails, rewards, or top-up routes change.
