Binance Resilients Withdrawal And Deposit Of US Dollars From Accounts Starting Tomorrow, But Only Temporary!

Binance crypto exchange. (Photo; Doc. Decrypt)

JAKARTA - Global cryptocurrency exchange Binance is rumored to be suspending withdrawals and deposits in US Dollars through bank transfers starting Wednesday. A Binance spokesperson said they would notify customers who were directly affected and seek to restart services as soon as possible.

"We are temporarily suspending bank transfers in US dollars starting February 8. Affected customers will be notified in person... We are working hard to restart services as soon as possible," the spokesperson said, quoted by Bitcoin.com News.

A Binance spokesperson said that only 0.01 percent of its monthly active users use bank transfers in US Dollars. However, Binance is still very positive on net deposits and notes that outflows always increase as prices rise after the bullish market recovers.

However, Binance US, a unit set by FinCEN, clarified that they are separate entities from Binance and their customers are not affected by this suspension.

For your information, FinCEN (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network) is a United States government unit under the Treasury Department. FinCEN has a mission to protect the US financial system from use for criminal activities, such as money laundering and terrorism financing.

FinCEN acts as a reporting network to collect and analyze information about suspicious financial transactions, and cooperates with security and court agencies to combat financial crimes.

Binance US says that other methods such as using credit cards, Google Pay, and Apple Pay, remain available to customers to buy and sell cryptocurrencies.

Quite a number of banks have started reducing their engagement with the crypto market following the collapse of the crypto exchange FTX. Binance announced last month that their partner bank, Signature Bank, would only regulate transactions that exceed US$100,000 (equivalent to Rp1.5 billion) earlier this month. The bank previously decided to reduce to US$10 billion (approximately Rp151 trillion) deposits from customers using cryptocurrencies.

Several government agencies such as the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) recently issued a joint statement warning banking organizations about crypto-related risks.

The statement stated that the agency has important issues regarding safety and health with business models that focus on crypto asset activity or have exposure to being concentrated on the crypto asset sector.