Binance is a major cryptocurrency trading platform which has become a favorite of traders everywhere, particularly for buying tokens that aren't found on most other exchanges. In fact, hours before his exchange abruptly froze for trading and withdrawals, Binance's founder was featured in Forbes and he will be on the cover of their Feb. 28 issue.
CZ (born Changpeng Zhao) cut his teeth making high-frequency trading systems for Wall Street's flash boys, and he built Binance to be a Ferrari. His exchange can process a blazing 1. 4 million transactions a second and on a peak trading day in January processed 3.5 billion new orders, cancels and trades. Speculators (some 25% of them from the U.S.) use Binance to trade 120 different coins, generating $200 million in profits for CZ's exchange last quarter. BNB, the virtual coin CZ created in August that gives holders a 50% discount on trading fees, has a market cap of $1.3 billion. His stake in Binance and his coins give CZ a personal fortune worth as much as $2 billion.
If CZ's Binance is a Ferrari, then right now it's broken down on the side of the road. Without warning from the company, trading and withdrawals suddenly froze for Binance users yesterday around 11:30pm UTC (6:30pm EST) and have been down ever since. Binance soon responded on Twitter saying "system maintenance" was to blame and that users would experience a "temporary decrease in exchange performance." (In fact, reports on Twitter suggest trading was completely stopped for all users, as it was for this author.)
A few hours later, the Binance account tweeted out a link - which is no longer active - to a report on a "system upgrade extension" which asserted that trading would be open again by 2pm UTC today. Shortly before that time came, Binance sent out a new tweet announcing reopening of trading would be pushed back to 4am UTC on Feb. 9 (11pm EST, Feb. 8) and has been tweeting the same update every two hours since then.
It's encouraging for Binance users that CZ and the company are making an effort to keep users updated and there does not seem to be any evidence at this time that there is anything more going on than some unscheduled site maintenance.
Enter John McAfee.
Binance's response and McAfee's rebuttal:
Meanwhile, the crypto markets have been mostly taking the news in stride with Bitcoin currently trading at $8,300 (up 0.86% 24h).
Do you think it's a hack? Is McAfee spreading FUD? Are you a Binance user with coins on the platform and are you freaking out? Tell me your thoughts in the comments.
Thanks for following, upvoting and resteeming!
McAfee is a hack. I wouldn't pay too much attention to him if I was you. Also, that screenshot of the Binance "hack" is most likely fake since it's from 4chan. Check out this tweet by DarkPill on Twitter:
Great article anyhow.
It looked like a screenshot from a Discord server and pretty easy for somebody to have drawn up themselves. McAfee is a shady character.
Disclaimer: I am just a bot trying to be helpful.
LEDGER NANO S OR the TREZOR Wallet?
Personally... I say the LEDGER NANO S.
Just checked my binance account. Thankfully funds are still showing a balance. Haven't tried to transfer as I'm not an active trader. Hopefully all is well, pretty bold statement by Mcafee if found baseless.
Hi! I'm Sel. I am new here... I'm following back
upvote and resteemit
done
I hope it's not a hack. Any shake in the system can people lose hope in the system and that can lead to low investment
And nobody wants to lose.
Highly rEsteemed!
I never jumped on the Binance bandwagon when you invited me. Bittrex had been the last exchange I wanted to have anything to do with. I figure all centralized platforms should keep going the way of GOX so that people get the point...
The purpose of this Tech is to avoid central models ALTOGETHER. Blockchains are Financial Technology, not Currencies. The Markets they create are the value propositions that currencies try to capture but do a poor job of controlling.
You know the solution to this is just to keep your "funds" in your own wallet.
If you are getting your news from John M. You need to shoot yourself (with some sense)
Being on the cover of Forbes as a crypto billionaire puts a big target on you. Wonder who is really behind it, you don’t just decide one day to make a system that can process 1.4 million transactions per second, 2000x faster than Amazon.com’s peak capability. 1) I don’t believe he made that and 2) it would take a lot of capital, more than an ICO could provide.
Should be considered in light of the Q China post that was mentioned on your show today. Maybe coincidence, just like the Dow dropping 666 points was maybe coincidence.