"Binance.US Shocks Crypto Market with Major Deposit Suspension"

Binance.US, a prominent cryptocurrency exchange, has announced the suspension of U.S. dollar deposits and anticipated temporary discontinuation of fiat dollar withdrawal channels starting June 13. This decision comes just days after Binance and its CEO, Changpeng Zhao, faced legal action from U.S. regulators.

In a tweet posted at 10:33 p.m. EDT (0233 GMT on Friday), the American arm of the world's largest crypto exchange stated that it is taking proactive measures during its transition to becoming a crypto-only exchange for the time being. The exchange reassured its customers that trading, staking, deposits, and withdrawals involving cryptocurrencies will continue to operate without interruption.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) initiated a lawsuit against Binance and its founder, Zhao, earlier this week. Subsequently, the SEC also sued Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency platform in the United States. These actions represent a significant escalation in the regulatory crackdown on the crypto industry, following the events surrounding FTX's collapse last year.

On Thursday, U.S. financial regulators expressed support for freezing Binance's assets, as stated in an SEC filing made public by a federal court.

Matthew Dibb, the COO of Singapore crypto platform Stack Funds, commented, "Binance.US is a considerably smaller business than their international group. Halting withdrawals is obviously going to create or spur quite a bit of worry and panic. But day after day for the last week, Binance has been hit with various types of comments and issues from the SEC and regulators, so this was really to be expected."

Despite the regulatory developments, cryptocurrency prices exhibited minimal reaction. Bitcoin, for instance, experienced a marginal decline to $26,496 during Asian trading hours on Friday. Throughout the week, it was on track for a 2% weekly loss, having dipped to a two-month low of $25,350 earlier in response to the SEC's actions. Binance's BNB token also experienced a slight drop of 0.46% to $261.46.

Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG Markets, noted, "The reaction has been extremely muted so far. Either the market has shrugged it off, or it hasn't gotten a handle on it yet."

In its tweet on Thursday, Binance.US criticized the SEC's stance on cryptocurrencies as "extremely aggressive and intimidating." The exchange pledged to vigorously defend itself, its customers, and the industry against what it perceives as baseless attacks from the SEC.

While the crypto industry has been critical of U.S. SEC chair Gary Gensler following these lawsuits, he has denied claims that the agency aims to crush the crypto industry.

Wayne Huang, Co-founder and CEO of XREX Inc, a blockchain-enabled financial institution operating the XREX USD-crypto exchange, remarked, "As regulatory scrutiny continues, exchanges, stablecoin issuers, and industry players will further specialize in different roles to collectively provide the best user experience."