Binance CEO: Deposits coming back after $1.14 bn withdrawals

NEW DELHI: Amid the FTX collapse saga, customers withdrew $1.14 billion in just 12 hours from leading crypto exchange Binance and according to its CEO, the massive withdrawals were “handled with ease” and “things seem to have stabilised” now.

Customers pulled billions of dollars of funds from the exchange, amid fears about the state of the cryptocurrency industry following the collapse of FTX and arrest of its former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), from the Bahamas by the US authorities.

Changpeng Zhao tweeted that this was “not the highest withdrawals we processed, not even top 5”. The CEO said deposits are returning to Binance. “Things seem to have stabilised. Yesterday was not the highest withdrawal we processed, not even top 5. We processed more during LUNA or FTX crashes. Now deposits are coming back in,” he tweeted on Wednesday.

“We saw some withdrawals today (net $1.14b ish). We have seen this before. Some days we have net withdrawals; some days we have net deposits. Business as usual for us. I actually think it is a good idea to ‘stress test withdrawals’ on each CEX on a rotating basis,” he posted.

Since the bankruptcy of FTX, Binance has been seeking to prove it has all of its customers’ reserves. This would differentiate it from FTX, which got into trouble by lending customer funds to its sibling trading firm Alameda Research, it was reported.

“In the wake of recent events, it’s imperative we develop new systems that allow users to access continuous on-chain verification of their assets in custody to regain user trust and once again prove that crypto is more secure and transparent than traditional finance,” the company said in a statement.