Due to a blocked transaction, Binance has temporarily suspended bitcoin withdrawals. Binance Founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao first stated in a tweet that the issue will be rectified within 30 minutes.
However, he then amended his comments to clarify that it would take longer: “Fixing this issue is likely to take a bit longer than my first estimate.” He went on to say that “this issue solely affects the Bitcoin network,” and that holders “may still withdraw bitcoins on other networks such as BEP-20.”
The BEP-20 is a token creation standard used on the Binance Smart Chain.
“The funds are SAFU,” he explained, referring to “secure asset funds for users.” SAFU is a fund established by the firm in 2018 to help protect its consumers’ cash.
The news compounds the market’s anxiety as it fell today on the back of weak Celsius and high inflation figures.
Binance is the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. According to CoinGecko data, the business manages approximately $14 billion in spot trading volume and almost $50 billion in derivatives activity every day.