Binance Halts Deposits on Selected Networks: What AVA, GNS and TOWNS Holders Should Know After September 14

Update (September 30, 2026): The deadline of September 14, 2026, 08:00 UTC, has passed. According to its announcement, Binance no longer credits deposits over the affected networks; at least one network stays open for each of the three tokens, as listed below. The sections below reflect the situation as of September 9, 2026.

If you hold AVA, Gains Network (GNS) or Towns Protocol (TOWNS) in a wallet of your own and want to send those tokens to Binance, you had until Monday, September 14, 2026, 08:00 UTC, which is 10:00 in Germany. Since that moment the exchange no longer accepts certain networks for the three tokens. A deposit sent over one of those routes after the deadline will not be credited according to Binance and may be lost. What this affects is neither trading nor your balance on the exchange, but solely the transport route between your wallet and your Binance account.

The reassurance sits in the same announcement: at least one network stays open for each of the three tokens. So you need to sell nothing and move nothing in a hurry. All you need to know is which route still works for you and which one no longer does. That is exactly what this piece works through, based on the network lists Binance itself published on September 9, 2026.

What exactly happens at Binance on September 14, 2026 at 08:00 UTC

Binance published the announcement on September 7, 2026 under the title "Binance Will Cease Support for Deposits and Withdrawals of Tokens on Selected Networks". Its core consists of two sentences. The first is the warning: "After 2026-09-14 08:00 (UTC), any deposits sent via the following networks will not be credited and may lead to asset loss."

The second sentence is the qualification that has been missing from the coverage so far: "Users will still be able to deposit or withdraw the above tokens via other networks supported by Binance." This is therefore not a delisting, in which a token disappears from the exchange entirely, but the shutting down of individual transport routes.

A network in this context is the blockchain over which a token is moved. The same token frequently exists in parallel on several blockchains, each with its own contract address. For you as a holder that means the ticker in your wallet says nothing about whether a transfer will arrive. What counts is which chain the tokens actually sit on and whether the receiving side accepts that chain.

Which networks Binance is switching off for AVA, GNS and TOWNS

The announcement names three tokens and five networks. This is the complete list:

• AVA over BNB Smart Chain and over the Solana network
• Gains Network (GNS) over the Polygon network
• Towns Protocol (TOWNS) over BNB Smart Chain and over the Base network

What stands out is who the list leaves out. On September 4 Binance had placed four tokens under special observation, Scroll (SCR) among them. For SCR no network is being switched off. The two events overlap, yet they are not the same thing, and anyone who read only the reports from September 4 does not know about the September 14 deadline.

Which network remains for each token

The announcement says which routes close, but not which ones stay. That gap can be closed, because Binance publishes the supported networks per crypto asset in machine-readable form. On September 9, 2026 at around 18:39 UTC the position looked as follows, and from it the remaining route emerges:

• AVA is currently supported over BNB Smart Chain, Ethereum (ERC20) and Solana. After September 14, Ethereum (ERC20) remains as the only route.
• Gains Network (GNS) is supported over Arbitrum One and Polygon POS. After September 14, Arbitrum One remains.
• Towns Protocol (TOWNS) is supported over BNB Smart Chain, Base and Ethereum (ERC20). After September 14, Ethereum (ERC20) remains.

For two of the three tokens the remaining route therefore runs over the Ethereum mainnet, and for GNS over Arbitrum One. These details are a snapshot from September 9 and can change, for instance if Binance adds another network. Check the current position in the exchange's deposit and withdrawal dialogue before you transfer.

Why a deposit over a switched-off network can be lost

The phrase "may lead to asset loss" sounds like legal caution but describes a real mechanism. A deposit address on an exchange is not an account in the banking sense, it is an address on a particular blockchain that is tied to an internal crediting process. Once the exchange switches off support for a chain, that process no longer runs for the address concerned. The tokens then still sit on the chain, but they do not appear in the balance.

Whether they can be retrieved depends on whether the exchange still holds the associated keys and offers a recovery process. That is a question of goodwill and effort, not an entitlement. How this case plays out in practice and where it fails is something we described in detail using the most common misdirected transfers as an example: sending crypto over the wrong network.

The monitoring tag of September 4 and what it means

On September 4, 2026 Binance attached the so-called monitoring tag to four crypto assets: AVA, Gains Network (GNS), Scroll (SCR) and Towns Protocol (TOWNS). The monitoring tag is a marker with which an exchange tells investors that a crypto asset is reviewed more frequently and carries a higher risk than the rest of the offering. It is expressly not a removal: the tokens remain tradable and the associated services stay available.

According to the account given by the specialist service crypto.news, reviews of this kind cover trading volume, liquidity, development activity, network security, the project team's communication and changes to the tokenomics, among other things. For the four projects concerned the exchange named no individual breach and no specific weakness. Anyone deriving a verdict on the integrity of one of the projects from the tag goes beyond what Binance itself said.

At the same time it is true that the tag is a warning signal the exchange takes seriously. If a crypto asset fails the repeated reviews, a removal can follow. What such a sequence looks like is documented in our archive, for instance in the Binance delisting of six tokens in August 2026. The tag itself, however, carries no date and no announcement. The only documented deadline in this matter is September 14, and it concerns the networks alone.

AVA is not always AVA: the contract address decides

In the announcement Binance names only the ticker symbol "AVA". That abbreviation is used twice in the market: there is AVA (Travala) and a younger project called Ava AI. Anyone who confuses the two and sends tokens to an address meant for the other project loses them. For you as a holder, what governs is therefore the contract address, the unique identifier of the token contract on the respective blockchain.

Comparing the contract addresses listed by Binance with the public project data shows unambiguously which token is meant. The address Binance lists for AVA on Ethereum is 0xa6c0c097741d55ecd9a3a7def3a8253fd022ceb9, and the Solana identifier is G8LfyGVsjsLzetJ5RWZVAhMo4H9cb58ET1Z6gEZJQdPM. Both are assigned by CoinGecko to the AVA (Travala) entry. Ava AI carries a different identifier on Solana. The token meant is therefore the Travala one, and anyone preparing a deposit compares the address in the wallet with the one shown in the deposit dialogue, character by character.

On BNB Smart Chain, Binance lists the address 0xd9483ea7214fcfd89b4fb8f513b544920e315a52 for AVA. That is precisely the route closing on September 14. If your AVA sits there, the preparatory work is greater than in the other cases, because you first need a bridge to another chain.

Confirmations and withdrawal fee: the remaining route is the more expensive one

There is a second reason to deal with this before the deadline, and it appears in no report: for all three tokens, the network that remains is considerably more expensive than the networks being closed. The withdrawal fees Binance listed on September 9, 2026 show this plainly.

• AVA: 0.14 AVA over BNB Smart Chain, 3.12 AVA over Solana, but 4.5 AVA over Ethereum. The remaining route costs roughly thirty-two times the cheapest one.
• GNS: 0.059 GNS over Polygon, 0.21 GNS over Arbitrum One. About three and a half times the amount.
• TOWNS: 10 TOWNS over BNB Smart Chain, 119 TOWNS over Base, 358 TOWNS over Ethereum. Anyone wanting to move TOWNS off Binance in future pays almost thirty-six times the cheapest previous fee.

This is no reproach to the exchange, because the fee essentially reflects the network costs of the chain concerned, and the Ethereum mainnet is more expensive than a layer-2 chain or BNB Smart Chain. It does, however, change the arithmetic for small holdings considerably. On a holding in the low hundreds, the withdrawal fee over Ethereum can account for a noticeable share of the value. Anyone who wanted to move TOWNS or AVA off the exchange anyway has the cheaper window until September 14.

A second practical point concerns confirmations, the number of blocks a blockchain has to produce before Binance credits a deposit. For GNS over Polygon the exchange requires 200 confirmations and for Arbitrum One 120, while over BNB Smart Chain a single one suffices. A transfer sent shortly before the deadline has therefore not arrived immediately. Plan the buffer generously, and do not rely on a transaction sent at 07:55 UTC still making it through in time.

What to check before September 14

The check takes a few minutes and depends on where your tokens sit.

Case one: your tokens are already on Binance. Then you need do nothing by the deadline. Trading continues and the balance is untouched. The change only becomes relevant when you want to withdraw, and then over the more expensive remaining network.

Case two: your tokens sit in a wallet of your own, on a chain that stays open. That means AVA or TOWNS on Ethereum, GNS on Arbitrum One. Here too there is no pressure to act. Even so, check in the exchange's dialogue which network is offered before your next deposit.

Case three: your tokens sit on a chain that is being closed. That means AVA on BNB Smart Chain or Solana, GNS on Polygon, TOWNS on BNB Smart Chain or Base. Only this case carries a deadline. You have two options: send the tokens to Binance before September 14, 08:00 UTC, while the route is still open. Or leave them in your own custody and later switch chains over a bridge to one Binance continues to accept. A bridge is a service that transfers tokens from one blockchain to another, technically most often by locking on one side and issuing on the other. Going over a bridge costs fees and time and carries a failure risk of its own.

If this occasion has you thinking about switching exchange anyway, the terms are worth a look: deposit and withdrawal routes differ markedly between providers, and a venue that supports a chain another one drops saves you exactly those bridge costs. Our overview of the best crypto exchanges also compares the providers by the networks they support.

If the deposit still ends up on the wrong network

Mistakes happen, especially with tokens that exist on several chains. What matters is what you do afterwards. First note the transaction identifier, the TxID or transaction hash, along with the sending and receiving addresses and the network used. Without those details no support desk can trace the case.

Large exchanges run a self-service recovery procedure for a portion of these cases. It does not cover every chain and every token, however, and it regularly carries a fee. Depositing over a switched-off network after the deadline is therefore not a process with a guaranteed outcome. The announcement itself puts precisely that in the words "may lead to asset loss".

The more reliable route is to check first. With a new combination of token and network, send a small test amount, wait for it to be credited and only then transfer the rest. The fee for that test amount is incurred exactly once; a holding that lands on an address no longer being served is blocked for good.

Network shutdowns, delistings, wallet overhauls: why these cases are piling up

The Binance case does not stand alone. Trust Wallet has dropped support for 25 networks as of September 15, 2026. Binance itself set a withdrawal deadline for four further tokens in August. Behind it lies a common cause: every additionally supported chain means node operation, security reviews and support for a provider. Once a chain's volume and usage fall, that effort is cut.

For you as a holder an uncomfortable insight follows. Where your tokens sit is a decision others can change on your behalf for as long as they hold them in custody or provide the access. A provider can switch off a chain, a wallet can end support, an exchange can delist. In self-custody with keys you hold yourself, by contrast, the tokens stay where they are, regardless of who currently supports them. The price for that is full responsibility for backups, which is why a comparison of hardware wallets is worth the time before such a move.

For holders of small amounts in less widespread tokens it remains a judgement call. The withdrawal fees from the previous section show that self-custody can cost a substantial share of the value on a holding of a few hundred euros. Either choice is defensible; what counts is that you know the deadline and do not notice only on September 15 that a route has closed.

Checking your Binance deposit: what to take away

1. Check before September 14, 08:00 UTC which chain your AVA, GNS or TOWNS sit on. Only if that is BNB Smart Chain, Solana, Polygon or Base do you have a deadline. If you want to change exchange at the same time, the comparison of the best crypto exchanges and the networks they support will help.
2. Work out the withdrawal fee of the remaining network before you decide. For TOWNS over Ethereum it is 358 tokens instead of 10 over BNB Smart Chain. Anyone holding only a small amount, for which the fee weighs noticeably, will find the free alternative to custody on the exchange in the software wallet comparison.
3. Move long-term holdings into self-custody instead of parking them on an exchange. The next network shutdown then only affects you when depositing. Which device is suitable is set out in the hardware wallet comparison.

(As of September 9, 2026. This article is not investment advice. Prices and fee structures change; check the terms with the provider before you buy.)

Primary source: Binance announcement of September 7, 2026. Context on the monitoring tag: crypto.news of September 4, 2026.