Binance to temporarily suspend bank transfers in US dollars beginning Feb. 8

Binance has announced that it will temporarily suspend US dollar (USD) bank transfers starting February 8. No other trading method will be affected, the exchange saying in a tweet on February 6.

The news came without explanation, although the company, which is the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, added in the same tweet that:

“We are working hard to restart the service as soon as possible. […] All other methods of buying and selling cryptocurrency are not affected."

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) saying in a separate tweet:

“It is worth noting that USD bank transfers are leveraged by only 0.01% of our monthly active users. However, we appreciate that this continues to be a poor user experience."

Apparently, the suspension applies only to international Binance users, since Binance.US tweeted that “our customers will not be affected”.

https://t.co/gM6e3xb9BX is not affected by this suspension. Unless you see an official message from https://t.co/gM6e3xb9BXour customers will not be affected.

— Binance.US Customer Support (@BinanceUShelp) February 6, 2023

Binance has had banking challenges in the United States recently. Its SWIFT transfer partner, Signature Bank, said on January 21 that would only process trades by users with USD bank accounts of more than $100,000, starting February 1. The bank had previously said that it was slashing deposits from crypto customers.

Binance said at the time that it was looking for a new SWIFT partner and that USD transactions using credit or debit cards would continue to be accepted, as would all SWIFT transactions using other currencies.

Also on February 1, Binance published a list of 144 countries where USD SWIFT transfers of any size would be suspended.

Related: Binance stablecoin BUSD sees sharp market cap drop amid solvency concerns and mismanagement

CNBC reportsciting Arkham Intelligence, that there has been an immediate exit from Tether (USDT) and USD currency (USDC) dollar-pegged stablecoins on other exchanges, adding that the outflow was “tiny” compared to Binance’s $42.2 billion worth of crypto assets.