Binance says ‘funds are SAFU’ as exchange temporarily suspends withdrawals

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has revealed it temporarily halted withdrawals affecting different networks, citing a technical issue. 

In a tweet posted on August 17, the crypto exchange stated the incident occurred at 07:00 AM UTC, noting that the technical issue emanated from a third-party service provider. However, the exchange did not specify the technical issues and the affected networks. 

Binance also clarified that the team contained the issue within an hour while assuring users that the funds were safe since it activated the Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU). 

Notably, the exchange launched the SAFU feature in 2018 as an emergency insurance fund to protect users’ funds. The SAFU fund wallets comprise BNB, BUSD, and Bitcoin (BTC)

Binance’s previous withdrawal pauses 

Binance, which ranks as the world’s largest crypto exchange by market capitalisation, also resorted to halting Bitcoin withdrawals back in June. According to the exchange’s CEO, Changpeng Zhao, the decision was necessitated by a stuck transaction causing a backlog. 

Although Zhao had noted that the issue would be fixed within 30 mins, he later announced that it might take longer than anticipated. The service was later restored after several hours. 

With the recent crypto market crash, several firms have resorted to halting withdrawals mainly due to high volatility. For instance, crypto lending platform Celsius announced a pause on all withdrawals before filing for bankruptcy applications.