The leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance was caught up with speculations recently following the abrupt suspension of USDC withdrawals from the platform. After about nine hours, however, the exchange also managed to weather the storm after it announced again the resumption of USDC withdrawals.
Binance resumes USDC withdrawals
Binance’s CEO Changpeng Zhao explained in a recent statement that the reason behind the hours-long pause was the because exchange needed to swap between its affiliate stablecoin, BUSD, and USDC. CZ said the process required using fiat currency at a bank in New York, which wasn’t open at the time of the pause.
The statement from Zhao didn’t resonate well with Crypto Twitter, considering the situation of the industry at the time. Some even dug up previous tweets by the former CEO of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which portrayed a similar message as the tweets by CZ.
However, Binance proved to be different, as it announced late Tuesday that users can withdraw USDC from the platform.
Binance reportedly processed $6 billion in withdrawals
The development yesterday stemmed from mass withdrawals on the exchange. Multiple reports reveal that Binance processed more than $6 billion in withdrawals within the past 48 hours, which many now consider a decent vote of solvency for the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. This is evident as Zhao tweeted today that withdrawals from Binance are starting to stabilize and deposits are increasing again.
Even after processing such a volume of outflows, a glance at Binance reserve on the Nansen platform shows the cryptocurrency exchange still holds over $59 billion in cryptocurrencies, mostly in stablecoins, followed by Bitcoin and its native digital currency, BNB. This record tends to show the recent FUDs that Binance could be insolvent are quite baseless.
CZ says there are tough times ahead
In spite of Binance affirming its strong financial position, Zhao disclosed to his employees that there could be more tough times for the cryptocurrency in the coming months, according to a memo seen by Bloomberg. “While we expect the next several months to be bumpy, we will get past this challenging period — and we’ll be stronger for having been through it,” Binance CEO said.
