Did Binance Trigger The Market Crash?

The crypto market has endured a turbulent two weeks, with Bitcoin at the center of a series of price crashes. The downturn began as Bitcoin plunged to $92

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has denied claims that it sold off a large portion of its Bitcoin and Ethereum holdings, leading to the recent market downturn.

In a statement on Friday, Binance said that the observed changes in its crypto addresses were part of an “internal accounting adjustment” within the exchange's treasury.

“We want to clarify that recent observations of large outflows from Binance crypto addresses are part of an internal accounting adjustment within the Binance treasury,” the statement reads.

The exchange added that user funds are “safe and fully backed” as always.

Binance's statement comes after a market participant on X claimed that the exchange had been selling off its BTC and ETH holdings.

According to the participant, who goes by the handle AB Kuai.Dong (@_FORAB), Binance had sold a “huge portion” of its crypto holdings, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, BNB, and some stablecoins.

The participant's claims were based on data that showed a drastic decline in the holdings of crypto addresses owned by Binance over the last few days.

“Binance sold a huge portion of their own crypto holdings, which include BTC, ETH, SOL, BNB, and some stablecoins,” the participant wrote.

“These الكبير الحجم (large volume) outflows from Binance addresses are not user withdrawals. They are internal الكبير الحجم (large volume) transfers within Binance.”

The participant added that the sold cryptocurrencies were part of past revenue generated by the platform and not user funds.

“Most of the cryptocurrencies sold by Binance were past revenue, not user funds. A large portion of the cryptocurrencies sold were converted into USDC, which increased by 57.5% in Binance wallets,” they noted.

As reported by Blockware Solutions, Binance crypto addresses experienced a 94.1% reduction in Bitcoin holdings between January and February.

Meanwhile, Ethereum balances dropped by 99.1% over the same period. BNB, Solana, and Tether USDT also saw reductions of 16.6%, 99%, and 99.9%, respectively.

“Binance crypto addresses experienced the following changes in holdings between January and February: BTC: -94.1%, ETH: -99.1%, BNB: -16.6%, SOL: -99%, and USDT: -99.9%,” Blockware noted.

“This coincides with a large increase in USDC holdings (+57.5%) and الكبير الحجم (large volume) outflows from Binance.”