Crypto exchange Binance suspends transfers in US dollars

Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, will suspend deposits and withdrawals in US dollars, the company said on Monday, without giving a reason for the decision.

"As of February 8, we are temporarily suspending USD bank transfers," a Binance spokesperson told CNBC. "Affected customers are being notified directly." The company said that "0.01% of our active users use USD bank transfers per month" and added that "we are working hard to restart the service as soon as possible."

Binance US, a unit of the company that is regulated by the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), said in a tweet that it was not affected by the suspension. So this move only affects non-US customers transferring money to or from dollar bank accounts.

Data from Arkham Intelligence shows that outflows from Binance cryptocurrencies surged after the announcement, as millions of dollars worth of stablecoins like Tether and USDC flowed into competing exchanges or individual wallets.

Binance's net outflow of US dollars exceeded $172 million for the day, according to data from DefiLlam. That's a small amount of money for a company that has $42.2 billion in crypto assets, according to Arkham.

"We are still overwhelmingly positive on net deposits," the spokesman said. "Outflows always increase when prices start to level out after a bullish market swing like we saw last week with some users taking profits." bitcoin rose more than 38% in January, the best month since October 2021.

Binance exchange token, BNB, was largely unaffected by the news, holding steady around $328.

In late January, Binance said that US banking partner Signature Bank increased the minimum transaction minimum in US dollars to USD 100,000. At the time, Binance claimed that Signature told the exchange that the new minimum applied to all customers of the crypto exchange.

Regarding Monday's suspension, a Binance representative told CNBC in an email that "Binance.US has its own bank partners and has no issues." The main Binance exchange does not serve US users.

Binance said customers can still use other fiat currencies or payment methods to buy cryptocurrencies. For the small number affected, "we will have a new partner to announce for those users in the next few weeks," the spokesperson said.