Binance temporarily suspends ETH withdrawals, conspiracy theorists cry foul

Amid BNB’s meteoric rise on Friday and Bitcoin’s climb to a new all-time high of $56,000, the world’s largest exchange, Binance, has suspended ETH withdrawals.

Binance announced on Feb 19 that it was temporarily halting Ethereum withdrawals due to congestion issues. However, some traders are not having any of the excuses, with claims that the exchange suspending ETH withdrawals at least an hour before the announcement was made.

To be fair to the exchange, withdrawals for all cryptocurrencies were at a point halted during the day for ongoing maintenance. Several conspiracy theorists have lent their voices to exchange’s action.

Larry Cermak, a researcher at The Block pointed out the fact that “withdrawals [were] rejected more than an hour ago.” Some users opined that Binance might be doing something shady behind the scenes.

Ethereum is not even congested right now. Was way worse multiple times when withdrawals weren't suspended

— Larry Cermak (@lawmaster) February 19, 2021

Some believed that the decision was taken to ridicule Ethereum’s already stressed network and pump BNB’s price even higher.

This is what centralized exchanges do. Just like banks they control your funds and you are left helpless. ETH defi on the other hand gives you full control. Are low gas fees worth losing your financial freedom?

— MLSGRFX (@MLSGRFX) February 19, 2021

One user found a rather interesting correlation between Binance’s action and the gas fees.

So binance stopped withdrawals for an hour and gas fees dropped a lot, just goes to show who’s interest it’s in to keep gas fees high. Binance is a mafia.

— LitBit (@bittybitbit86) February 19, 2021

And of course, there were those who believed that Binance was only flexing its muscles and trying to prove the prowess of Binance Smart Chain over Ethereum.

As of press time, withdrawals for Ethereum and every other cryptocurrency had been reactivated.