© Reuters
By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com — Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, halted spot trading on Friday due to what its CEO Changpeng Zhao described as a minor glitch.
“Initial analysis indicates that the corresponding engine encountered an error with the Trailing Stop command (strange),” Zhao tweeted, adding that he expects the issue to be resolved within two hours. “Waiting for a more accurate time. Deposits and withdrawals are being paused as standard operating procedure (SOP).”
Chow signed off on his usual reassurance to clients that their deposits are safe.
“The funds are #SAFU,” he said, referring to the Safe Users Asset Fund, which is a reserve fund initially set up with $1 billion in assets.
The incident comes at the end of a polarizing week for cryptocurrency, which has enjoyed a sharp rise in interest around the world with the collapse of three US companies. Banks and Credit Suisse have raised concerns about the stability of the prevailing financial system. Lovers have long argued that digital currencies offer protection from a system prone to hyperinflation due to years of loose monetary policy.
It reacted negatively to the news of Binance’s action, dropping nearly 2%. However, it was still up 0.6% on the day, on fresh selling in Europe and the US. Bank stocks.
