Just In: Binance Temporarily Suspends Bitcoin (BTC) Withdrawals

Binance Exchange, the largest crypto trading platform in the world, announced the temporary suspension of Bitcoin (BTC) withdrawals on its platform. According to the tweet containing the update, the exchange said the reason for the halt is based on the congestion that is being experienced on the Bitcoin network.

Typically, periods of network congestion can cause a lot of discomfort for traders as deposits and withdrawal requests typically take a considerable amount of time before it goes through. The suspension of withdrawals by Binance is considered an avenue to save its users from this stress, until the congestion is cleared.

As revealed, Binance said one of its dedicated team is “currently working on a fix until the network is stabilized and will reopen $BTC withdrawals as soon as possible.

The fact that Binance has made a name for itself as the biggest exchange with the deepest liquidity as confirmed by its proof of reserve asset has helped maintain calm in the community. Binance has maintained its lead in the industry despite the record listing of PEPE and Floki Inu memecoins over the weekend.

With the sustained congestion, however, questions about the health of the Bitcoin protocol have risen up in the industry.

Possible Cause of Bitcoin Congestion

Hours before Binance exchange reported the halt in withdrawals, a Twitter user who doubles as a major node operator @proofofjogi confirmed that Bitcoin is under a DOS attack. According to him, “high transaction fees are the chosen pain point by the attacker, probably to make bitcoin unusable for smaller players.”

Bitcoin is under DoS attack. High transaction fees are the chosen pain point by the attacker, probably to makes bitcoin unusable for smaller players. pic.twitter.com/0J56liNSGf

— iris.to/jogi (@proofofjogi) May 7, 2023

According to Jogi, the mechanism of the attack appears to be Ordinals shitcoining and by his predictions, the whole attack may just be starting off.

Bitcoin is renowned as the most versatile protocol in the blockchain ecosystem. This recognition may soon be cleared off since some smart contracts functionalities are now being built on the network at this time. These smart contracts have a lot of attack vectors that may largely compromise the integrity of the network just as is being experienced at the moment.

In all, Bitcoin price remains unfazed as it is changing hands at $28,941.90, up by 0.71%. At the time of writing, the exchange said it has resumed the Bitcoin withdrawals.