Binance.US suspends US dollar deposits after crackdown by regulators
Crypto exchange Binance.US said on Thursday (Jun 8) it is suspending US dollar deposits and that its banking partners are preparing to pause fiat dollar withdrawal channels as early as Jun 13, just days after US regulators sued Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao.The US arm of the world's largest crypto exchange said in a tweet at 10.33pm (0233 GMT Friday) that the move comes as it is taking "proactive steps" in its transition to a crypto-only exchange for the time being.Trading, staking, deposits and withdrawals in crypto would remain fully operational, the exchange said in a notice to its customers.On Monday, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against Binance and its founder Zhao, and subsequently sued Coinbase, the largest US cryptocurrency platform, a day later.The developments mark a dramatic escalation of a crackdown on the industry by US regulators, following the implosion of FTX last year.US financial regulators had said earlier on Thursday that they supported a freeze on Binance's assets, according to a US SEC filing to a federal court and made public."Binance.US is a considerably smaller business than their international group.
Halting of withdrawals is obviously going to create or spur quite a bit of worry and panic," said Matthew Dibb, COO of Singapore crypto platform Stack Funds."But day after day for the last week, Binance has been hit with various types of comments and issues from the SEC and regulators, so this was really to be expected."Prices of cryptocurrencies barely reacted to the news, with bitcoin last marginally lower at US$26,496 during the Asian day on Friday.It was headed for a weekly loss of about 2 per cent, after having dipped to an over two-month low of US$25,350
