Binance Exchange Unaffected, CZ Confirms, Normal “Market Behavior”
- The Binance exchange blocked withdrawals on some accounts that benefited from massively volatile coins.
- CZ explained on Twitter that this is normal market behavior and sometimes these things happen in free markets.
- Altcoins in question include Sun Token (SUN), Ardor (ARDR), Osmosis (OSMO), Fun Token (FUN), Golem (GLM).
Some altcoins listed on Binance, one of the top crypto exchanges by volume, experienced massive spikes in volatility. Some of these tokens surged up to 90% in minutes.
Binance altcoins explode but no hack
On December 11th, some of the altcoins on Binance saw a massive surge that almost doubled the value of the tokens in less than a few minutes. Due to this unusual behavior of Sun Token (SUN), Ardor (ARDR), Osmosis (OSMO), Fun Token (FUN) and Golem (GLM), the exchange suspected that it was compromised. In addition, the centralized platform blocked withdrawals from some of the accounts that benefited from these altcoin pumps.
Altcoins are pumping on Binance
CEO and co-founder of Binance, Changpeng Zhao (CZ) tweeted that they “had to temporarily suspend withdrawals on some of the benefiting accounts.” The exchange confirmed in another tweet that the funds were SAFU and that none of these accounts had their API keys compromised.
Shortly thereafter, CZ released an official statement stating that the exchange or accounts were not hacked and that this was “market behavior.” He further confirms the fact that one of the accounts that benefited was “funded” to the exchange and that hackers “do not deposit.”
Additionally, CZ made it clear that they didn’t want to intervene too much.
We are aware of the concept of too much intervention by the platform, “too centralized” attacks, etc. There is a balance of how much we should intervene. Sometimes these happen in the open market and we have to let it happen.
These altcoins have seen a 90% surge in minutes, but are currently in a rapid downtrend, suggesting that this was only a short-lived rally and is unlikely to last in the short to medium term.