Binance Holdings Ltd., the largest cryptocurrency exchange, briefly suspended withdrawals on Monday.
The company made the announcement on Twitter that it had stopped withdrawals, and then about half an hour later said they had resumed. Changpeng Zhao, the Binance co-founder who goes by CZ, said by text message that “we sometimes have to do some system maintenance work,” without elaborating further.
Trading disruptions are relatively common in the world of crypto, where exchanges operate in a lightly regulated environment and aren’t subject to the same stringent controls of traditional exchanges. Still, the frequency of the problems has raised questions about the safety of crypto trading at a time when thousands of new customers are flocking to platforms like Coinbase, Binance and Kraken.
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The popularity of crypto and its wild market swings are also catching the attention of more central bankers and regulators. Last week, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey issued a stark warning to those investing in cryptocurrencies: “Buy them only if you’re prepared to lose all your money.”‘
Binance, which is run from Asia, has been attracting more than 300,000 user registrations a day, exceeding its previous peak reached in 2017, Zhao told Bloomberg TV in February.
(Updates with company comment in second paragraph.)
