Binance Resumes Business as Usual, Starts Giveaway

Major cryptocurrency exchange Binance is back in the game again following the recent hack that shook the crypto world and left them poorer for 7,000 BTC (around USD 40 million at the time). Additionally, as a thank you to customers who remained with them, the company announced they were giving away USD 1.2 million worth of Binance Coin (BNB), as well as increasing the level of all their VIP customers by one.

Binance announced both on their Twitter and their official blog that the system upgrade is complete and that all trading activity would resume at 13:00 UTC. “From now until the commencement of trading, users will be able to cancel open orders, process deposits and use other account related functions. Please note that the withdrawal function will be available shortly after trading resumes,” the official post adds.

As for the giveaway, the exchange announced that all traders that have a valid trading volume of over 1 BTC in the next three days will split a pool of 50,000 BNB, which corresponds to around USD 1.2 million. The period in which users can reach this trading volume ends on May 18 at midnight UTC, and all trading pairs are eligible.

Additionally, all existing VIP users will be promoted to a level above their current one for a week. To qualify for any VIP level, users must have more than 100 BTC in trading volume over the course of 30 days, as well as hold more than 50 BNB. VIP traders enjoy lower fees, especially if they use BNB to pay for those, and every user’s eligibility for VIP status is calculated at midnight UTC every day.

Not everyone is happy with the giveaway news, however. Twitter user @VRUoT2 points out: “Not really a giveaway. Making people trade a bunch to collect fees. Then giving them a portion of the fees you collect.” Others complain that one bitcoin worth of trading is too high, and that this giveaway is “only for the rich.” User @Dialpina30 adds, “I think it is unfair to those who trade less than 1 BTC. Everyone was affected by the hacking not just those who are VIPs or has heaps of BTCs.”

As reported, some of Binance clients are wondering “will there be compensation?”, as they have suffered losses with no means to regain their funds, in addition to a delay in resuming deposits / withdrawals.

As reported, deposits and withdrawals were all supposed to resume yesterday, Tuesday, but were instead pushed to today due to a system upgrade that also saw trading itself suspended for the duration. The update itself took longer than expected – about two hours more.