Binance Flooded With $1.9-B Worth Of Withdrawals

Binance, the world's biggest crypto exchange, saw withdrawals of $1.9 billion in the last 24 hours, blockchain data firm Nansen said, and confirmed the platform had "temporarily paused" withdrawals of the USDC stablecoin, Tom Wilson and Elizabeth Scowcroft reported for Reuters.

Photo Insert: The $1.9 billion figure marks the largest daily outflow since at least June.

Binance, whose dominance of crypto was cemented by the bankruptcy of rival exchange FTX last week, tweeted a so-called proof-of-reserves report by audit firm Mazars.

The report showed its holdings of bitcoin exceeded customer deposits on a single day in November. Mazars is the controversial accounting firm that served the Trump Organization for several decades.

The $1.9 billion figure marks the largest daily outflow since at least June, the Nansen data showed, and accounted for the majority of the $2.2 billion in Ethereum-based withdrawals during the last seven days.

"Binance's withdrawals are increasing due to the growing uncertainty about its reserves report," a Nansen spokesperson said. Crypto news outlet CoinDesk reported earlier that Binance saw outflows of $902 million on Monday.

The exchange is already under pressure from authorities. Splits between US Department of Justice prosecutors are delaying the conclusion of a long-running criminal investigation focused on Binance's compliance with US anti-money laundering laws and sanctions, Reuters reported on Monday, even as authorities were inclined to charge Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao.

The report sparked a drop of almost 4% in Binance's BNB token, traders told Reuters. The Nansen data came as Binance halted withdrawals of USDC, citing a "token swap" - where digital token holders exchange their crypto coins, typically over different blockchains.

WEEKLY FEATURE : MVP Group Keeps Lights On During Pandemic