Binance restarted withdrawals of bitcoin after citing congestion on the token’s blockchain for two halts in less than 12 hours, suspensions that weighed on cryptocurrency markets.
The company said higher fees have been applied to pending transactions, so they get picked up by bitcoin miners — the computer rigs that operate the network. Withdrawals were down for more than two hours yesterday in Asia.
“To prevent a similar recurrence in the future, our fees have been adjusted,” it said. “We will continue to monitor on-chain activity and adjust accordingly if needed.”
Photo: REUTERS
Binance had also halted bitcoin withdrawals on Sunday for about 90 minutes, blaming congestion on the token’s blockchain.
Data from research company CryptoQuant showed that the platform experienced its highest-ever net daily outflow of bitcoin — a net 175,646 tokens — on Sunday.
Binance moved about US$4.4 billion worth of bitcoin across its digital-asset wallets on Sunday, analysis from CryptoQuant showed.
The tokens were moved in two tranches, of 117,000 and 40,000, CryptoQuant research head Julio Moreno wrote on Twitter.
In Asia, bitcoin was moved “between Binance hot and cold wallets due to the BTC address adjustments,” Binance wrote on Twitter yesterday, referring to bitcoin.
Cold wallets are not connected to the Internet, unlike hot ones, and are often viewed as a more secure way of storing digital currency.
In response to a request for comment, Binance referenced a blog posted earlier this year, in which it said that large crypto exchanges run management systems that operate dynamically with cold and hot wallets for “liquidity and security.”
Last year’s crypto crash and bankruptcies such as FTX undermined confidence in digital-asset platforms.
Lingering skepticism about the industry has left crypto traders on alert for major shifts related to assets at exchanges.
Bitcoin, the biggest cryptocurrency by market value, yesterday retreated amid a wider drop in crypto markets, shedding as much as 3.1 percent before paring some of the slide.
It was trading at US$28,180 as of 7:52am in London.
Binance is by far the largest exchange in the digital-asset sector following the collapse of rival FTX last year. Volumes on the platform exceeded US$6 billion in the past 24 hours, five times as much as the next nearest platform OKX, CoinGecko data showed.
Earlier this year, bitcoin developer Casey Rodarmor released a protocol — called Ordinals — that helps people mint nonfungible tokens (NFTs) on the network. That boosted transactions on the bitcoin blockchain.
NFTs, or digital collectibles, are often based on ethereum, crypto’s most important commercial highway. Their emergence on the bitcoin network represents a new application of a blockchain that is better known for its store-of-value and payment functions.
Semiconductor shares in China surged yesterday after Reuters reported the US had ordered chipmaking giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to halt shipments of advanced chips to Chinese customers, which investors believe could accelerate Beijing’s self-reliance efforts. TSMC yesterday started to suspend shipments of certain sophisticated chips to some Chinese clients after receiving a letter from the US Department of Commerce imposing export restrictions on those products, Reuters reported on Sunday, citing an unnamed source. The US imposed export restrictions on TSMC’s 7-nanometer or more advanced designs, Reuters reported. Investors figured that would encourage authorities to support China’s industry and bought shares
TECH WAR CONTINUES: The suspension of TSMC AI chips and GPUs would be a heavy blow to China’s chip designers and would affect its competitive edge Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, is reportedly to halt supply of artificial intelligence (AI) chips and graphics processing units (GPUs) made on 7-nanometer or more advanced process technologies from next week in order to comply with US Department of Commerce rules. TSMC has sent e-mails to its Chinese AI customers, informing them about the suspension starting on Monday, Chinese online news outlet Ijiwei.com (愛集微) reported yesterday. The US Department of Commerce has not formally unveiled further semiconductor measures against China yet. “TSMC does not comment on market rumors. TSMC is a law-abiding company and we are
FLEXIBLE: Taiwan can develop its own ground station equipment, and has highly competitive manufacturers and suppliers with diversified production, the MOEA said The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday disputed reports that suppliers to US-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) had been asked to move production out of Taiwan. Reuters had reported on Tuesday last week that Elon Musk-owned SpaceX had asked their manufacturers to produce outside of Taiwan given geopolitical risks and that at least one Taiwanese supplier had been pushed to relocate production to Vietnam. SpaceX’s requests place a renewed focus on the contentious relationship Musk has had with Taiwan, especially after he said last year that Taiwan is an “integral part” of China, sparking sharp criticism from Taiwanese authorities. The ministry said
US President Joe Biden’s administration is racing to complete CHIPS and Science Act agreements with companies such as Intel Corp and Samsung Electronics Co, aiming to shore up one of its signature initiatives before US president-elect Donald Trump enters the White House. The US Department of Commerce has allocated more than 90 percent of the US$39 billion in grants under the act, a landmark law enacted in 2022 designed to rebuild the domestic chip industry. However, the agency has only announced one binding agreement so far. The next two months would prove critical for more than 20 companies still in the process
RSS