- The company said that Binance will suspend US dollar withdrawals and deposits for international customers from February 8.
- Binance banking partner Signature Bank raised the minimum transaction for dollar transfers in January.
- Millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency exited Binance after the suspension was announced, but the company says it remains “net-positive”.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance will suspend deposits and withdrawals in US dollars, the company said on Monday, without giving any reason.
“We are temporarily suspending USD bank transfers effective February 8th,” a Binance spokesperson told CNBC. “Affected customers are being notified directly.” The company said “0.01% of our monthly active users take advantage of USD bank transfers” and that “we are working hard to resume service as soon as possible.”
Binance US, a unit of the company regulated by the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, said in a statement do That it is not affected by the suspension. Thus the move only applies to non-US customers transferring funds in dollars or from bank accounts.
Data from Arkham Intelligence shows that following the announcement, there was a sharp increase in outflows from Binance’s crypto wallets as stablecoins linked to millions of dollars lanyard And usdc Flown to rival exchanges or personal wallets.
Based on data from Defilama, Binance had a net US dollar outflow of over $172 million for the day. According to Arkham, this represents a small amount of money for a company that holds $42.2 billion worth of crypto assets.
“We are still net-positive on net deposits,” the spokesperson said. “Outflows always increase when prices start to fall after a bullish market move, as we saw last week, as some users take profits.” Bitcoin Gained over 38% in January, its best month since October 2021.
Binance’s exchange token, bnbIt was largely unaffected by the news, holding steady at around $328.
at the end of January, Binance said US Banking Partner signature bank The US dollar transaction minimum was raised to $100,000. At the time, Binance said that Signature told the exchange that the new minimum applied to all crypto exchange customers.
Regarding Monday’s suspension, a Binance representative told CNBC in an email that “Binance.US has its own banking partners and there are no issues.” The main Binance exchange does not serve US users.
Binance said that customers can still use other fiat currencies or payment methods to buy crypto. For the small number affected, “we will have a new partner to announce for those users in the next few weeks,” the spokesperson said.
– CNBC’s Kate Rooney /m>.
Credit: www.cnbc.com /