Zhao Changpeng, founder and chief executive officer of Binance, attends a conference at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France June 16, 2022.
Benoit Tessier | Reuters
Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, will suspend U.S. dollar deposits and withdrawals, the company said Monday, without providing a reason for the decision.
“We are temporarily suspending USD bank transfers as of February 8th,” a Binance spokesperson told CNBC. “Affected customers are being notified directly.” The company said “0.01% of our monthly active users leverage USD bank transfers,” and added that “we are working hard to restart service as soon as possible.”
Binance US, a unit of the company that’s regulated by the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), said in a tweet that it’s not impacted by the suspension. Thus, the move applies only to non-U.S. customers who transfer money to or from bank accounts in dollars.
Data from Arkham Intelligence shows that following the announcement, there was a sharp spike in outflows from Binance’s crypto wallets, as millions of dollar-pegged stablecoins like Tether and USDC flowed to rival exchanges or individual wallets.
Binance’s net U.S. dollar outflow was over $172 million for the day, based on data from DefiLlama. That represents a tiny amount of money for a company that has $42.2 billion worth of crypto assets, according to Arkham.
“We’re still overwhelmingly net-positive on net deposits,” the spokesperson said. “Outflows always tick up when prices start to level off following a bullish market swing like we saw last week as some users take profits.” Bitcoin rose more than 38% in January, its best month since October 2021.
Binance’s exchange token, BNB, was largely unaffected by the news, holding steady at around $328.
Binance’s exchange token, BNB, since Feb. 3, 2023.
In late January, Binance said U.S. banking partner Signature Bank had increased U.S. dollar transaction minimums to $100,000. At the time,…
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