Binance Suspends US Bank Transfers: Crypto World in Shock

• Binance, the largest crypto exchange in the world, announced that it will temporarily suspend all US dollar withdrawals and deposits for international customers beginning February 8.
• This suspension only applies to non-U.S. customers who transfer money to or from bank accounts in dollars, however Binance US is not affected by this suspension.
• The move comes as Binance has been facing banking challenges in the United States due to its banking partner Signature Bank raising transaction minimums for dollar transfers and reducing exposure to clients operating in the crypto space.

Binance Temporarily Halts US Bank Transfers

Binance has announced that it is temporarily suspending US dollar withdrawals and deposits for international customers beginning February 8th. All other methods of buying and selling crypto remain unaffected according to the tweet sent out by Binance on February 6th. However, this only impacts a small proportion of their users which are non-U.S customers who transfer money to or from bank accounts in dollars – Binance US is not affected by this suspension.

Reason Behind Suspension

The move comes as Binance has been facing banking challenges in the United States due to its banking partner Signature Bank raising transaction minimums for dollar transfers and reducing exposure to clients operating in the crypto space. Last month, Signature Bank announced that it would only process trades by users with USD bank accounts over $100,000 and both banks have received billions in loans from the Federal Home Loan Banks following the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

Signature Bank & Silvergate under Pressure

Signature Bank and Silvergate are two of the biggest crypto banks but were hit hard by last year’s crypto meltdown which saw around $2 trillion worth of value wiped out of the market.. Both banks have received billions in loans from their local home loan banks following FTX’s collapse – Signature Bank received nearly $10 billion while Silvergate received over $1 billion at end 2022 quarter alone.

Binance Seeking New Banking Partner

At the time when Signature raised these minimums, Binance said they were “actively seeking” a new partner to process its SWIFT payments since only 0.01% of their average monthly users were serviced by Signature Bank then.. The search for a new partner is still underway but until then, USD transactions will be suspended starting Wednesday (Feb 8).

Conclusion

The suspension will affect a small proportion of users but all other methods including buying/selling remain unaffected according to Biance’s tweet . All other methods including buying/selling remain unaffected according to Biance’s tweet . The exchange hopes that service can be restarted soon once they find a suitable replacement for their former banking partner and resume USD transactions for international customers again