Market News

(Bloomberg) -- Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange, moved about $4.4 billion worth of Bitcoin across its digital-asset wallets on Sunday based on an analysis from research company CryptoQuant.

The tokens were moved in two tranches, of 117,000 and 40,000, CryptoQuant’s Head of Research Julio Moreno said on Twitter.

Binance said in a tweet on Monday in Asia that Bitcoin was moved “between Binance hot and cold wallets due to the BTC address adjustments.” 

Cold wallets aren’t connected to the internet, unlike hot ones, and are often viewed as a more secure way of storing digital currency.

In response to a request for comment, Binance referenced a blog post earlier this year, where it wrote that large crypto exchanges run management systems that operate dynamically with cold and hot wallets for “liquidity and security.”

Last year’s crypto crash and bankruptcies like FTX undermined confidence in digital-asset platforms. Lingering skepticism about the industry has left crypto traders on alert for major shifts related to assets at exchanges.

Binance on Sunday also temporarily halted Bitcoin withdrawals for about 90 minutes, blaming congestion on the token’s blockchain. It implemented another suspension on Monday in Asia and cited a similar reason. 

The latest halt was lifted after the company said higher fees had been applied to pending transactions to get them picked up by Bitcoin miners — the computer rigs that operate the token’s underlying blockchain.

Bitcoin retreated on Monday amid a wider drop in crypto markets, shedding as much as 3.1% before paring some of the slide. The biggest digital asset was trading at $28,180 as of 7:52 a.m. in London.