Binance sees surge in withdrawals as CEO pleads guilty, fined $4Bln

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
23 Nov 2023 16:57

Indicators show that withdrawals from Binance have surpassed $1 billion in the last 24 hours, excluding bitcoin.

(Matt Slocum/AP)

Reports indicated on Wednesday that Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange globally, witnessed a significant increase in withdrawal requests after its founder CEO, Changpeng Zhao, pleaded guilty to criminal and civil charges in the US. The company is also facing fines exceeding $4 billion.

According to data provider Kaiko, indicators show that withdrawals from Binance have surpassed $1 billion in the last 24 hours, excluding bitcoin. Concurrently, the liquidity of the platform has experienced a 25% decline over the same timeframe, attributed to market participants retracting their positions.

According to CoinGecko data, Binance's native token, BNB, experienced a decline of more than 9%. As reported by the blockchain analysis firm Nansen, the crypto exchange currently holds approximately $2.8 billion worth of BNB tokens.

Despite the substantial outflows, the platform still retains assets exceeding $65 billion, indicating that a "mass exodus" of funds from the exchange has not occurred at this point. Analysts argue that the company is likely "capitalized enough to withstand" a sudden withdrawal of investors.

"After the momentary shock of the agreement with the announcement, there is no significant impact on most assets," market analyst Grzegorz Drozdz told Russia Today.

"Of the top 100 cryptocurrencies, as many as 98 have seen a noticeable rebound over the past 24 hours. Bitcoin, meanwhile, fell 4% before rebounding and remaining with a loss of 1.3%," he said.

A few days ago, Zhao agreed to resign from his role as CEO of Binance and admitted to violations of anti-money laundering requirements as part of a deal negotiated with the US Department of Justice.

The reported settlement terms indicate that Binance is expected to forfeit $2.5 billion to the US government and to pay a fine of $1.8 billion, for a total of $4.3 billion.