Binance Holdings Ltd.’s native cryptocurrency has ended a sustained decline fueled partly by fears over outflows from the world’s biggest digital-asset trading platform.
Binance Coin (BNB) has gained around 4% in the last two days, snapping a seven-day losing trend that had lasted since October. Over the weekend and Monday, Bitcoin and a barometer of the top 100 tokens remained flat.
Last week, the platform witnessed $6 billion in net withdrawals over three days, reflecting a widespread lack of trust in cryptocurrency after the collapse of rival exchange FTX and suspicions of fraud against the latter’s CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried.
A Binance spokesman refused to comment on BNB price swings but reiterated that the exchange passed a stress test by satisfying recent withdrawals, which should provide “exceptional assurance” that assets are safe.
According to CryptoQuant statistics, there was a net inflow of 338 Bitcoins to Binance on Sunday, compared to a record net daily outflow of more than 40,000 on Dec. 13. Net Ether outflows decreased to 1,183 tokens on Sunday, down from more than 278,000 last Tuesday.
Binance and other digital-asset exchanges had hired accounting firm Mazars Group to create paperwork demonstrating that the company had sufficient reserves to absorb a rise in withdrawals.
However, Mazars said last week that it was stopping work for crypto firms because of indications that markets have not been satisfied by “proof-of-reserves” reports produced so far.
Binance’s Argument
Binance said it supports more openness and is looking for a large accounting firm ready to work on such reports. Sean Farrell, head of digital-asset strategy at Fundstrat Global Advisors LLC, said in a report on Friday that Binance is likely solvent and has fully guaranteed customer assets.
As of 2:10 p.m. in Singapore on Monday, BNB was trading at about $247. The token lost 9% last month, whereas Bitcoin has remained stable. Over the last three years, BNB has gained more than $1,600%, compared to Bitcoin’s 133% rise.
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