Binance crypto exchange suspends withdrawals and trading
By Carine Lee
10:39, 1 July 2022
Cryptos were largely unfazed on Thursday by news that the Binance crypto exchange had suspended withdrawals and trading.
Crytpo traders appeared to accept the exchange´s denials that it had not been hacked and would be up and running again by about 1400 GMT.
Hong Kong-based Binance cited technical issues against a large increase in users and activity. While maintaining that no data had been lost, the firm said on Thursday that it had been forced to do a “system upgrade” and “fully resync from master.”
Crypto recovery
Crypto prices powered ahead on Thursday, continuing to recover from the big sell-off earlier this week.
Bitcoin was around 12% up as at 1120 GMT, trading at $8513.
Traders will be nevertheless watching the developments at Binance carefully. On Thursday, Japan´s financial regulator said it would be launching on-site checks of several crypto exchanges that could be vulnerable to hacking.
It comes in the wake of the major heist from Tokyo-based exchange CoinCheck less than a fortnight ago in which some $530m worth of the NEM digital currency was stolen.
Angst
As one of the biggest crypto exchanges in the world, a prolonged suspension of Binance would likely cause more angst in the market, so many traders will be hoping the exchange can get going again at around 1400 GMT on Thursday as expected.
Some crypto exchanges have been known to be down for as long as three days at a time for maintenance.
Various users with open positions on Binance have expressed concerns about the prices they will be quoted once trading resumes.
Assurance
However, Binance management have assured traders they will have 30 minutes once the exchange reopens to cancel orders.
“Our team is working hard to complete this upgrade as quickly as possible. We will make an announcement to all users if completed ahead of schedule. Withdrawals and trading during this period will remain suspended. We apologise for any inconvenience caused and thank you for your patience,” said Binance.