Binance Experiences Significant BTC, ETH, and Stablecoin Withdrawals Following CFTC Lawsuit

After the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued Binance for alleged violations of trading and derivatives rules, a significant amount of cryptocurrency was withdrawn from the exchange. Data from analytics provider Nansen shows $400 million in Ethereum-based funds were withdrawn in 24 hours, and 3,655 bitcoin worth more than $99 million were withdrawn over the past day, according to Coinglass metrics.

3,655 Bitcoin Withdrawn From Binance in 24 Hours

On Monday, March 27, 2023, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) sued Binance and CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ), alleging the exchange had violated specific trading and derivatives rules. The CFTC is seeking disgorgement and monetary penalties, as well as a ban on future registrations. Following the news, Binance experienced a large number of withdrawals, and some observers noted “large onchain movements prior” to the exchange’s troubles with the CFTC.

“A few hours before the Binance CFTC Indictment, there were large stablecoin withdrawals across centralized exchanges, totaling almost $1.5B in just 12 hours. Notably, Binance itself saw an $850M outflow,” analysts from ‘An Ape’s Prologue’ explained. “Just one hour after the announcement, Binance saw an additional $240M withdrawn,” the researchers noted.

Data from Nansen and Dune Analytics show more than $400 million in Ethereum-based funds were withdrawn in 24 hours. As of writing, Nansen’s proof-of-reserves portal shows Binance holds $63.36 billion worth of cryptocurrency assets. Statistics also show more than 150 million BUSD stablecoins were redeemed on Monday. There’s currently 7.84 billion BUSD in circulation, and 7.1 billion of those tokens are held on Binance.

Binance also holds one of the largest caches of bitcoin, as its cold wallet holds 248,597 bitcoin, the single largest address today. According to Coinglass, Binance’s BTC balance indicates that the exchange has shed 3,655 bitcoin worth close to $100 million over the last day. While Binance saw the most bitcoin outflow over the last 24 hours, Coinglass records indicate that 1,025 bitcoin was withdrawn from Coinbase.

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