Binance Users Heading for the Exits? Over $1 Billion in Withdrawals—So Far

In the wake of the stunning revelation yesterday that leading crypto exchange Binance and the company’s CEO, Changpeng Zhao, both pled guilty to criminal charges in the United States, the platform has seen an exodus of almost $3 billion worth of user funds.

In the 24 hours since reports broke that Zhao agreed to step down as Binance’s CEO and plead guilty to violating U.S. anti-money laundering laws, $2.83 billion worth of Binance customer funds have flowed out of the exchange, according to on-chain data compiled on Dune Analytics.

In the same period, $1.81 billion worth of funds have flowed back into Binance, resulting in a one-day net loss of just over $1.01 billion in customer funds for the world’s largest crypto exchange.

While that sort of loss is not insubstantial, it represents only a 1.8% dent in the exchange’s $56.4 billion total balance. Further, it is not unprecedented: At two separate points this year, including one day earlier this month, net outflow from Binance’s coffers exceeded $1 billion in a 24 hour period, according to the Dune dashboard.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao to Step Down, Plead Guilty to Money Laundering

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao has agreed to step down from his role at the world's largest crypto exchange as part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice. He also plans to plead guilty to violating criminal U.S. anti-money-laundering requirements that would potentially allow the exchange to keep operating, people familiar with the matter have told the Wall Street Journal. Zhao will appear in federal court in Seattle on Tuesday to enter his guilty plea, the sources told the news outlet....

Last November, amid the historic collapse of Binance’s then-rival FTX, and fears of a cascading, industry-wide crisis, Binance saw over double the amount of net outflows it is currently experiencing—$2.65 billion worth over a six-day period.

Concerns about the potential of a bank run on Binance in the immediate aftermath of the company’s historic settlement with the U.S. government appear to be unfounded, at least for now. For reference, after FTX began circling the drain last November, it took about $6 billion worth of panicked customer withdrawals to trigger doom for the once-dominant exchange. Keep in mind, also, that FTX then was roughly half the size that Binance is now.

Yesterday, in his first public statement after pleading guilty to criminal charges in a Seattle federal court, Binance’s Zhao made a point of emphasizing that U.S. prosecutors had not alleged that Binance ever misappropriated user funds or engaged in market manipulation, key elements that contributed to FTX’s collapse.

Zhao ended his post yesterday by stating that “Funds are SAFU,” a reference to the Secure Asset Fund for Users that Binance established to pay back customers in the event of an emergency. The contents of that fund, though, currently amount to $1.01 billion in total—no more than the outflows the exchange experienced today.

He was taken into custody after pleading guilty, but has since been released on a $175 million bond.

Edited by Stacy Elliott.