Binance.US to halt US dollar deposits after SEC crackdown
CRYPTO exchange Binance.US said on Thursday (Jun 8) that it is stopping US dollar deposits, and that users will soon not be able to withdraw US dollars from the exchange, after American financial regulators said they supported freezing Binance’s assets.
The purportedly independent American affiliate of Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, said late on Thursday that its banking partners are preparing to stop US dollar withdrawal channels as early as Jun 13.
Binance.US said in the customer notice that it would no longer accept US dollar deposits as part of plans to change to a “crypto-only exchange”.
The exchange did not give details of who its banking partners are.
On Monday, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Binance, its founder and chief executive Changpeng Zhao, as well as the operator of its US exchange.
The lawsuit marked a dramatic escalation of a crackdown on the industry by American regulators, with the SEC suing major US exchange Coinbase a day later.
BT in your inbox
Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.
The SEC alleged in 13 charges that Binance artificially inflated its trading volumes, diverted customer funds, failed to restrict US customers from its platform and misled investors about its market surveillance controls.
The SEC on Tuesday asked a federal court to freeze Binance’s US assets. Binance.US called the motion “unwarranted,” saying it had addressed the regulator’s concerns over the safety of customer assets.
In its tweet on Thursday, Binance.US said crypto-denominated trading, deposits, withdrawals and “staking” – where users deposit cryptocurrencies for use in blockchain transactions – would remain fully operational.
SEE ALSO
The move is a major blow to Binance.US. One of the main functions of an exchange is allowing users to convert their traditional money into digital currencies such as Bitcoin. Binance will no longer be able to offer that service in the US.
“Halting of withdrawals is obviously going to create or spur quite a bit of worry and panic,” said Matthew Dibb, chief operating officer of Singapore crypto platform Stack Funds.
Crypto prices barely reacted to the news, with Bitcoin last trading flat US$26,512. It was headed for a weekly loss of about 2.3 per cent, after having dipped to an over two-month low of US$25,350 earlier in the week as the SEC crackdown stoked nerves.
Binance’s BNB token, the world’s fourth-largest, slid 1.5 per cent to US$258.76.
Binance.US had struggled to find banking partners after the failure of Signature Bank, the Wall Street Journal reported in April.
Share with us your feedback on BT's products and services
