Binance Pay Launches in US Amid Massive Withdrawals Shaking Up Platform

Binance is not shying away from expanding its crypto services for the convenience of its users despite the ongoing crunch in the crypto market. Almost 22 months since launching its Binance Pay mobile app in the international markets, the exchange has now rolled-out the service for its customers in the US. The feature, which supports peer-to-peer payments as well as merchant transactions, enables users to facilitate immediate payments via cryptocurrencies supported by Binance. The exchange does not charge a gas fee for facilitating transactions through the Binance Pay app.

The users of Binance residing in the US must update their app to avail this Pay feature.

“Keep building,” said Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of the exchange, as he posted an official announcement on the development on Twitter.

The global crypto market, at this point, is laying low on the financial scale after the FTX crypto exchange dramatically declared bankruptcy owing to mismanagement of funds and a massive liquidity crunch last month.

Within days, over $200 billion (roughly Rs. 16,33,300 crore) were wiped off from the crypto market post FTX's downfall, with the prices of majority cryptocurrencies having taken a hit.

As the crypto market valuation cascaded from its trillion-dollar pedestal, a large chunk of investors pulled back from the risky situation for the time being, leaving the industry breathless.

Binance, too, witnessed unusual activities on its platform. While its native BNB token dived by over seven percent in recent days, the platform also recorded large withdrawals.

Net outflows of digital tokens from Binance amounted to about $3.7 billion (INR conversions needed) in the past week, Bloomberg reported on December 13, citing data from research firm Nansen.

Zhao quickly stepped in to say that things are stabalised and that the platform has seen even higher withdrawals.

This is the second time in the recent days that Binance became a subject of public scrutiny.

In the last week of November, Binance moved BTC 127,000 amounting to around $2 billion (roughly Rs. 16,320 crore) at the time in one transaction to an ‘anonymous' wallet.

Later, the platform explained that the exchange was conducting an audit of its proof-of-reserves to ensure users that the platform would be able to handle big withdrawals.