© Reuters
Investing.com – Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, announced on Tuesday that it has halted withdrawals from the USDC stablecoin while it conducts a “token swap.”
“Binance is conducting a token swap involving USDC. As a result, USDC withdrawals are temporarily halted. USDT and BUSD withdrawals are available and unaffected. USDC withdrawals will be reopened once the token swap is done,” the exchange announced on its Twitter account (NYSE:).
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao explained that the exchange is seeing an increase in withdrawals of USDC, a cryptocurrency known as stablecoin because it is pegged 1 to 1 to the US dollar.
“We have seen an increase in withdrawals. However, the channel to switch from PAX/BUSD to USDC requires going through a bank in NY in USD. Banks do not open for a few hours. the opening of banks,” Zhao said on his Twitter account.
“These are 1:1 conversions, no margin and no leverage. We will also try to establish smoother trading channels in the future. In the meantime, please feel free to remove any other currency like BUSD, USDT, etc,” he added.
The move comes as investors grow increasingly concerned about Binance’s stability following the collapse of rival exchange FTX, reports CNBC.
Binance suffered a wave of withdrawals on Monday due to concerns over the reserve test report. Net outflows, i.e. the difference between the value of assets entering and leaving the exchange, reached $902 million in the past 24 hours, according to data from blockchain intelligence platform Nanse, publish Coindesk.
By Laura Sanchez