Binance Pauses USDC Withdrawals, Here’s What’s Happening

Chinese crypto journalist Colin Wu has reported that the largest exchange by trading volume, Binance, which is currently facing massive outflows, has put withdrawals of USDC stablecoin on pause.

USDC withdrawals from Binance on pause

The tweet further stated that, according to CZ, the pause was necessary since people are converting PAX/BUSD into USDC, attempting to move the latter from Binance.

This process requires funds going through a bank in New York in USD. As soon as the banks open in a few hours, per Changpeng Zhao (CZ), withdrawals will be restored.

As for withdrawals of USDT and BUSD, those are functioning properly.

Binance USDC withdrawals are temporarily paused, because the channel to swap from PAX/BUSD to USDC requires going through a bank in NY in USD. CZ said the situation will be restored when the banks open in a few hours. USDT & BUSD withdrawals are available and unaffected.

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) December 13, 2022

As was reported earlier by U.Today, the U.S. prosecutor’s office is considering charging Binance with money laundering, so over the past 24 hours, massive withdrawals of crypto have taken place, mainly of Ethereum and ERC20 tokens.

Investors moving their funds off Binance, CZ blames FUD

The recent outflow of crypto from the exchange has come close to $2 billion. Binance’s CZ responded to the news about possible charges, saying that this is FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt).

He posted a thread, showing that FUD has been following Binance since its ICO in 2017, when there were numerous articles spreading negative news about the young crypto exchange as it was raising funds for launch.

FUD helps us grow, even though they are thoroughly annoying.

You can FUD about someone without explicitly mentioning their name, which spreads awareness.

It also helps unite their supporters because it forms a common defense alliance.

Short thread. 1/4 https://t.co/PlxhqV5cZS

— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) December 13, 2022

CZ claimed that FUD also helped Binance as many decided to invest in the ICO since they believed that a lot of negative news can certainly be only about a promising project.

Meanwhile, Binance’s native BNB token has been plunging heavily. Since the start of the week, BNB has lost over 10%. In the past 24 hours, it dropped by 5.61%. By now, however, it has regained a portion of its losses, rising 2.54% and trading at $266 per unit at the time of this writing.