Binance.US Faces Operational Challenges Due to Lack of Banking Partner
Binance.US, the American branch of the popular Binance Exchange, has been facing significant operational challenges due to a lack of a banking partner. This recent setback adds to a string of setbacks for the exchange.
Binance.US Struggles to Find Banking Partner
According to a report from the Wall Street Journal on April 8, Binance.US has been struggling to find a banking partner to handle its clients’ funds. The exchange has been actively searching for a new bank partner to enable the transfer of fiat currency in and out of its platform.
Due to the recent failures of Silvergate and Signature Bank, Binance.US is now relying on intermediary banks to store funds on its behalf.
Impact on Binance.US Customers
The lack of a direct banking partner has had an impact on Binance.US customers. In a recent update, the exchange announced that it would be transitioning to new banking and payment service providers in the coming weeks. However, it did mention that the transition would temporarily affect some of its US dollar deposit services.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Binance.US has been storing its customers’ funds with Prime Trust LLC, a FinTech firm specializing in cryptocurrency services. Any funds received from Binance.US clients, according to a Prime Trust spokeswoman, are kept in the company’s network of banking partners.
Regulatory Challenges and Legal Action
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission recently filed a lawsuit against Binance Holdings Ltd., the global affiliate of Binance.US, for alleged violations of regulations and rules aimed at preventing financial crimes in the United States. While Binance has denied any wrongdoing, this legal action may have made it more challenging for Binance.US to secure banking partners.
Furthermore, the regulatory landscape for cryptocurrency in the United States has become more complex in recent years, which may have contributed to the exchange’s difficulty in finding a banking partner.
BNB’s Trading Performance
BNB’s daily timeframe chart indicates that it has faced difficulties in recent weeks. As of this writing, BNB is trading at around $310, with a slight loss of less than 1%. While BNB is still trading above its short and long Moving Averages (yellow and blue lines), if the decline continues, it may fall below these averages. Furthermore, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) line indicates that the current trend for BNB is bearish.
Investor Sentiment
Furthermore, at the time of publication, investors expect Binance Coin to fall further. According to Coinglass funding rate data, the dominant positions on most exchanges are short, indicating that investors are bearish on BNB’s prospects. Although there are some long positions, the majority of market sentiment is carried by shorts at the time of writing.