Binance, the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, has announced that Signature Bank, one of its fiat banking partners, will no longer handle transactions of less than $100,000 as of February 1, 2023. The bank has taken this step as it looks to decrease its exposure to the digital-asset market.
In a statement sent to Bloomberg News, Binance said, “Signature Bank has advised that it will no longer support any of its crypto exchange customers with buying and selling amounts of less than 100,000 USD as of February 1, 2023. individual users may not be able to use SWIFT bank transfers to buy or sell crypto with or for USD amounts less than 100,000 USD.” SWIFT is a network used by financial institutions to transmit information and instructions.
This move by Signature Bank comes in the wake of increasing fears of contagion in the digital assets market. Traditional finance companies such as Signature and Silvergate Capital have seen their shares fall sharply after disclosing that customers withdrew around $8.1 billion of digital-asset deposits during the fourth quarter. Signature’s shares fell 64% last year.
In December, Signature, which is based in New York, announced that it intended to shed as much as $10 billion in deposits from digital asset clients as it embarks on a widespread pullback from the cryptocurrency industry. This move follows the warning issued by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation regarding the risks associated with crypto-assets.
