Key Takeaways
- Binance had net withdrawals of over $3.6 billion from Dec. 7 to Dec. 13
- As per Nansen, the present liquidity crunch might have been caused by large market makers exiting the exchange.
- On Ethereum, Web3 investment firm Jump withdrew approximately $18.4 million from Binance this week.
Leading crypto exchange Binance is reportedly suffering a liquidity crunch as mass withdrawals are surging. According to blockchain analytics firm Nansen, Binance had net withdrawals of over $3.6 billion from December 7 to December 13.
Binance’s international arm witnessed withdrawals of $8.78 billion and $5.1 billion in incoming funds. Binance, which witnessed over $2 billion in daily net inflows of Ethereum ERC-20 tokens last month, now had over $1 billion in outflows from December 12-13. As per Nansen technician Andrew Thurman, the present liquidity crunch might have been caused by large market makers exiting the exchange.
Nansen data adds that Web3 investment firm Jump Crypto is among the firms that removed funds from Binance. On Ethereum, Jump withdrew approximately $18.4 million this week and withdrew around $123.4 million from Binance last week. Wintermute is another entity that withdrew over $300 million from Binance on Dec. 11-12.
According to Nansen’s portfolio tracker, Binance’s total portfolio has decreased by $3.6 billion in the past few hours. The latest development also comes amid audit, tax, and advisory firm Mazars report that Binance’s customer bitcoin reserves are overcollateralized.
Responding to the Nansen data revelations, Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said, “Some days we have net withdrawals; some days we have net deposits. Business as usual for us”.
The past week has been far from easy for the crypto behemoth. Earlier this week, the US Department of Justice said it’s considering charging Binance executives with financial crimes.
The crypto community’s response to Binance’s liquidity crunch is mixed. Author and Bitcoin enthusiast Layah Heilpern tweeted, “You realise if Binance goes down, everything else will crumble? Yes, #bitcoin will survive, but the entire crypto ecosystem, including stablecoins, will die.”
Crypto Cognac, another active crypto Twitter user, stated that Binance going down wouldn’t do the space any good, as it would send the space “back to the stone age.”
The massive withdrawals from the world’s largest crypto exchange by volume is a matter of concern for anyone interested in crypto. If Binance does face an implosion, it could create a ripple effect across the entire crypto sector.
