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A number of leading Cryptocurrency companies on Monday blocked users from withdrawing funds following the plummeting of the value of bitcoin and other prominent digital assets, The Hill reports. Some of the leading Crypto firms, Celsius and Binance took measures to prevent users from making withdrawals as the value of the sometimes fluid currency tanks plunges to record levels.
On Sunday Celsius, the leading Crypto company announced that
it would freeze all withdrawals and transfers due to what it called “extreme
market conditions,” according to The Hill. The announcement led to uncertainty
in the market, sparking enormous selloff prompting the price of bitcoin to fall
12 percentage points to its lowest level since December 2020.
According to The Hill, Binance, the world’s largest crypto
exchange by trading volume announced Monday morning that it was freezing
bitcoin withdrawals “due to a stuck transaction causing a backlog.”
In a tweet, the firm’s CEO, Changpeng Zhao initially said
they would fix the problem within 30 minutes but later said the problem was
“going to take a bit longer to fix” than his initial estimate.
“Our team worked diligently to implement a solution and we
have now resumed withdrawals on the Bitcoin network,” Binance said later Monday
in a statement, The Hill reported. “There may still be a few transactions that
appear to be ‘pending,’ however we are working to address those few remaining
issues so that users can resubmit their withdrawal request.”
Celsius made its announcement after several cryptocurrencies
lost significant values over the Weekend. The company boasts of a customer base
of about 1.7 million. Ethereum reportedly plunged nearly 32 percent from Friday
to Monday morning.
“We are taking this necessary action for the benefit of our
entire community in order to stabilize liquidity and operations while we take
steps to preserve and protect assets,” Celsius wrote in a blog post Sunday
night, The Hill reported.
Due to recent hikes in interest rate from the Federal
Reserve and high level inflation prevalent in the country, most investors have
turned away from risky assets like cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies are very
fluid and values may plummet without warning.
According to The Hill, the crypto currency market troubles
began when so called stablecoins which are usually pegged to the price of the
dollar and other traditional currencies lost some value.