Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange, announced on Monday the suspension of US dollar deposits and withdrawals without specifying the reason.
The company said:
We are temporarily suspending USD bank transfers as of February 8th. Affected customers are being notified directly. 0.01% of our monthly active users leverage USD bank transfers and we are working hard to restart service as soon as possible.
Binance US, a subsidiary regulated by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network under the Treasury Department, confirmed via Twitter that it is not impacted by the suspension and that it only affects non-US customers who use dollars for transfers to/from bank accounts.
According to Arkham Intelligence, following the announcement, a significant increase in outflows from Binance’s crypto wallets was observed, with millions of dollar-pegged stablecoins such as tether and USDC moving to competitor exchanges or individual wallets.
DefiLlama’s data reveals that Binance’s net outflow in US dollars was over $172 million for the day. Although this amount may seem small for a company with $42.2 billion worth of crypto assets, as reported by Arkham.
A spokesperson said:
We’re still overwhelmingly net-positive on net deposits. 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.
The news had little impact on Binance’s exchange token, BNB, which remained stable at approximately $328.
A Binance representative stated in an email to CNBC regarding Monday’s suspension that “Binance US has its own banking partners and does not have any issues.”
The main Binance exchange does not provide services to US customers. Binance added that customers can still purchase crypto using other fiat currencies or payment methods. For the limited number of affected users, the spokesperson said that “we’ll have a new partner to announce for those users in the next couple of weeks.”
