Binance Resumes BTC Withdrawals Hours After Second Pause
- The exchange first paused Bitcoin withdrawals late on 7 May due to a network congestion issue, but resumed them only an hour and a half later.
- The second pause took place early on 8 May, and lasted almost three hours, but the issue now appears to be fixed after the exchange adjusted its transaction fees.
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Cryptocurrency exchange Binance was forced to pause, and later resume, Bitcoin (BTC) withdrawals two times in a matter of hours due to a network congestion, the company said via Twitter on 8 May.
According to the announcement, the exchange “temporarily” closed BTC withdrawals in the early hours of Monday as there was a “large volume of pending transactions” on the Bitcoin network. Binance had suspended BTC withdrawals only hours earlier, on 7 May, as the network experienced congestion issues, but reopened them only an hour and a half later.
Binance explained that a large number of BTC transactions were pending as the exchange’s “set fees did not anticipate the recent surge in BTC network gas fees”, and that it was working on accelerating the confirmation of all “pending transactions”. Around two hours after its initial tweet, the exchange said it had replaced the pending BTC withdrawal transactions with a higher fee so that “they get picked up by mining pools”, and an hour later announced it had resumed Bitcoin withdrawals.
Binance noted that it had adjusted its fees in order to prevent a similar issue in the future, and that its team will “continue to monitor on-chain activity and adjust accordingly”. The exchange also noted that it was working on enabling BTC withdrawals through the Lightning Network”, claiming it would help with such unexpected withdrawal issues in the future.
- The popular crypto exchange has decided to sell its business in Russia to CommEX, a crypto exchange business that was officially launched on Tuesday.
- Binance noted that it will fully exit the Russian market, and have no ongoing revenue split or any option to buy back shares in the business.
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- The company said it will be suspending its crypto-backed debit card service in the Middle East on 25 August, and in Latin America by 21 September.
- Although no reason was given for the decision, the company noted that “less than 1% of users” in those regions will be affected by the change.
- A spokesperson said the change was due to the “changing market and user needs”, and that Binance will now be refocusing its resources on its main products and long-term goals.
- Launched in March 2022, Binance Connect helped crypto businesses connect with the traditional finance system, and supported 50 cryptocurrencies and networks such as Visa and Mastercard.