Binance withdrawals slow after record customer outflows

Customer outflows from Binance's cryptocurrency trading platform are slowing, according to blockchain data from two digital-asset analytics firms.

Tiffany Hagler-Geard/Bloomberg

The net outflow, the difference between the value of crypto coming into and leaving the exchange, was around $239 million in the past 24 hours, according to Nansen. The data excludes bitcoin, which Nansen doesn't track yet. That's down from the daily average of $272 million over the past week. Binance has at least $60 billion in on-chain reserves, Nansen estimates.

Data from the researcher CryptoQuant shows similar trends for bitcoin flows on Binance. About 3,279 Bitcoin were withdrawn on Wednesday, down from a record high of 40,353 just two days ago.

Customers of Binance have been pulling their funds out of the exchange in the past few weeks amid waning confidence in the crypto sector, after Binance's former rival FTX collapsed. Sam Bankman-Fried, an FTX co-founder, has been charged with fraud for allegedly misappropriating billions of dollars of users' money.

Binance Holdings Chief Executive Changpeng "CZ" Zhao downplayed the concern about redemptions on Thursday, saying that customers could pull back all their funds without any problem if needed.

"People can withdraw 100% of the assets they have on Binance, we will not have an issue in any given day," Zhao said during an interview on CNBC. Crypto businesses should "hold user assets 1-to-1 and that is what we do."

Bloomberg reported earlier this week that the world's biggest crypto exchange saw a daily record net outflow of bitcoin and ether in terms of the number of tokens removed on Tuesday.

Before FTX's meltdown, the money flows on Binance fluctuated, but were often positive, based on Nansen calculations. A snapshot provided by Nansen of Binance's weekly net flow of ethereum blockchain-based tokens showed that there was a net inflow of more than $590 million between Oct. 30 and Nov. 5.