Bitcoin BTC , ethereum and other major cryptocurrencies have cratered this year (though leaks have revealed a $65 billion earthquake could be fast approaching).
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The bitcoin price has collapsed by around 70% from a year ago, dragging down the ethereum price and forcing the chief executive of crypto exchange Coinbase to issue a dire warning.
Now, the price of bitcoin and ethereum rival BNB BNB , a cryptocurrency developed by the exchange Binance, has fallen sharply following reports the exchange saw $1.9 billion of net outflows on Monday and temporarily halted withdrawals of the USDC stablecoin.
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Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao took to Twitter to try to reassure users that withdrawal problems at … [+]
“Remove your funds from Binance immediately,” bitcoin investor Mike Alfred, an outspoken critic of non-bitcoin cryptocurrencies and centralized exchanges, posted to Twitter, adding “this is not a test or joke.”
The price of Binance’s BNB, a cryptocurrency designed to ease trading on the platform and power a smart contract ethereum rival blockchain, has dropped 5% over the last 24 hours, falling as the bitcoin price and ethereum climb.
Binance has seen net outflows of $1.9 billion worth of ethereum and ethereum-based cryptocurrencies over the last 24 hours, with outflows over the last week of almost $2.2 billion, according to blockchain analytics company Nanse.
Some $2.5 billion of ethereum was reportedly withdrawn from the collapsed exchange FTX in early November as it fought what it called “false rumors,” putting traders on high alert for more crypto company meltdowns.
However, comparisons with FTX could be overblown, according to Nansen.
“Binance has much larger on-chain reserves than FTX did,” Edmund Kua, a research analyst at Nansen, said in an emailed comment. “We would have to see tens of billions of dollars in withdrawals before you start actually emptying their on-chain reserves. We can only see what’s on-chain. We don’t have insight into Binance’s inner workings.”
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The BNB price has fallen over the last week, struggling as rumors swirl around the Binance exchange … [+]
Binance suffered a further drop in confidence after its “proof of reserve report” failed to settle questions about the state of its finances and it was reported by Reuters the company could be about to be charged by U.S. Department of Justice prosecutors over possible money laundering and criminal sanctions violations.
“From what we see, Binance has around $60bn in assets on-chain based on the proof-of-reserves page; if we take a look at FTX, they had around $4-5bn worth of assets held on-chain leading up to their blow-up,” added Kua.
Binance also spooked traders when it said it was “temporarily” pausing withdrawals of the USDC stablecoin while it moves some cryptocurrencies between internal accounts.
“On USDC, we have seen an increase in withdrawals,” Binance chief executive Changpeng “CZ” Zhao posted to Twitter. “However, the channel to swap from PAX/BUSD to USDC requires going through a bank in New York in U.S. dollars. The banks are not open for another few hours. We expect the situation will be restored when the banks open.”
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