Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, experienced technical glitches that led to a temporary suspension of all spot trading, deposits, and withdrawals. The company’s founder and CEO, Changpeng Zhao, tweeted that the issue was caused by a bug on a trailing stop order, which the exchange’s matching engine had encountered. Zhao added that the exchange expected things to recover within two hours. Later, Binance announced that it had completed maintenance and resumed deposits, withdrawals, and spot trading functionalities.
Technical Glitch Will NOT Affect Cryptocurrency Prices
The suspension of deposits and withdrawals was a standard operating procedure, according to Zhao. Ilya Volkov, the CEO of Youhodler, a crypto lending platform, agreed that the pause was a result of a technical glitch and would not have a significant impact on cryptocurrency prices. Volkov added that such bugs could happen on any platform, and crypto exchanges were not unique.
Binance still faces Regulatory Scrutiny and Investigations
Binance’s dominance in the crypto market has been growing in recent quarters, with the exchange commanding over 60% of all crypto spot volume and increasing its market share of Bitcoin spot volume to over 90%, thanks to zero commissions. However, the exchange has faced regulatory scrutiny, and last week, it halted sterling deposits and withdrawals a month after ceasing dollar transfers. US authorities are investigating Binance for suspected money laundering and sanctions violations, according to Reuters. A top Binance executive told The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg last month that the company expected to pay penalties to resolve the US investigations.
Despite the regulatory headwinds, Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, hit a nine-month high on Monday before falling 1.07% to $27,600 after the Binance news. Ethereum also fell 2% to $1,741 on the news before recovering slightly.