Top Crypto Exchange Pre-Announces $81 Million Bitcoin Transfer

Story by: Vildana Hajric and Olivia Rinaldi

Take Binance, which pre-announced a soon-to-come $81 million or so Bitcoin transaction via Twitter on Monday. The world’s biggest crypto-trading platform told followers there’s “no need to FUD,” referring to the popular acronym crypto bulls use to describe unwarranted fear, uncertainty and doubt. The announcement was posted along with an emoji of a pair of shifty eyes.

Binance, which recently introduced its own blockchain, is launching tokens pegged to major cryptocurrencies and will soon offer a Bitcoin-pegged coin too, according to a company spokesperson. The token will trade on Binance and will be backed by the native coin. The Malta-based company is now creating a reserve of the exact amount needed — 9,001 Bitcoin, in this case — in order to fulfill that backing.

The exchange has made a lot of changes recently. It diclosed a $40 million hack last month and amended its user agreement to bar U.S. traders from its core platform starting in September. Binance also updated its terms of service to say it is instead launching a separate exchange for Americans.

Within long-established Wall Street norms, its Twitter announcement is unusual, said David Tawil, president of crypto hedge fund ProChain Capital. U.S. exchanges, such as the NYSE or the CBOE, don’t typically broadcast future block trades and don’t announce them via Twitter.

“That’s atypical,” said Tawil. “With Binance (along with the entire industry) looking toward regulatory compliance and SEC approval, I’m not sure if this announcement was the smartest thing. For regulatory approval, it’s best if crypto industry players conform to already established norms.”

Monday’s post came amid a surge in the price of Bitcoin, which crossed past $9,000 to its highest since May of last year. Reports that Facebook Inc. will soon unveil its own digital currency added to optimism that digital assets are becoming more widely accepted and adopted by mainstream companies.

Bitcoin rose as much as 11% to trade at $9,420 in New York. Its closest rivals, including Litecoin and Ether each rose at least 6%.

Original story: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/top-crypto-exchange-pre-announces-165533258.html

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