The world’s largest crypto exchange Binance is suspending US dollar deposits and withdrawals. Other fiat currencies such as the euro are not affected.
Binance is temporarily suspending US dollar deposits and withdrawals. This is according to a statement from the crypto exchange.
Specifically, the statement reads: “We are temporarily suspending USD transfers as of 8 February. Affected customers will be notified directly.
Only 0.01 percent of monthly active users will be affected by the suspension, Binance confirmed to Bloomberg.
Other methods of buying and selling cryptocurrencies, such as credit cards, Google Pay and Apple Pay, “remain unaffected”, it added. The crypto exchange integrated these features just under a month ago.
Are changes at the banking partner Silvergate responsible?
Binance did not initially comment on the reasons for the abrupt suspension of dollar transfers. However, it is likely to be related to the problems in processing bank transactions via the international payment system SWIFT, which Binance admitted the previous week.
The previous banking partner Signature Bank, which had previously processed international transfers for Binance via the SWIFT system, announced at the end of January that it would only process transactions from users with balances of $100,000 or more. The crypto exchange had announced at the time that it was looking for a new SWIFT partner for dollar transactions. Deposits in dollars via credit and debit card as well as SWIFT transfers with other fiat currencies besides the dollar are also still possible.
The US-based and regulated subsidiary Binance US has its own banking partners and is not affected. Binance serves clients residing in the US exclusively through this platform.
Crypto investors react cool
Immediately after the announcement, there was a sharp increase in outflows from Binance’s crypto wallets, CNBC reports, citing data from Arkham Intelligence. We are talking about $172 million worth of cryptos, with US dollar-linked stablecoins such as Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) in particular being transferred to other exchanges or private wallets.
In relation to Binance’s total crypto holdings of 42.2 billion dollars, however, these withdrawals do not carry much weight and most participants in the crypto market have also reacted to the news with a shrug of the shoulders. In generally quiet trading on Tuesday morning, the bitcoin is trading almost unchanged on a 24-hour basis just below 23,000 dollars.