Binance, the world`s largest cryptocurrency 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 thats regulated by the Treasury Departments Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, said in a tweet that its not affected 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 Binances crypto wallets, as millions of dollar-pegged stablecoins such as tether and USDC flowed to rival exchanges or individual wallets. According to DefiLlama, the net outflow of USD from Binance on the day was over $172 million. According to Arkham, this is a small sum for a company that owns $42.2 billion worth of crypto assets.
“We continue to be overwhelmingly positive on net deposits,” a spokesperson said. “Breakouts always increase when prices start to stabilize after bull market fluctuations, as we saw last week when some users took profits.” Bitcoin It increased by more than 38% in January, the best month since October 2021. Binance Exchange Token, BNB, little affected by the news and stable at around $328. In late January, Binance said U.S. banking partner Signature Bank
had increased U.S. dollar transaction minimums to $100,000. At the time, Binance said Signature had told the exchange that the new minimum applied to all crypto exchange customers.
Regarding Mondays suspension, a Binance representative told CNBC in an email that “Binance.US has its own banking partners and does not have any issues.” The main Binance exchange does not serve U.S. users. Binance said customers can still use other fiat currencies or payment methods to purchase crypto. For the small number affected, “well have a new partner to announce for those users in the next couple weeks,” the spokesperson said. — CNBC’s Kate Rooney contributed to this report.
