Binance the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume has shut down the account of an unidentified user for undisclosed reasons claiming they had been directed by security agents to do so.
The user, a possible high volume arbs trader who holds upto 1200 BTC in his account accused Binance of “arbitrary behaviour and a lack of transparency”. Speaking on the company’s subreddit, he said he met all conditions for verification of his account but nothing has been done to address the issue.
According to him, the reason for blocking his account has been changed a number of times since he started discussing with a staff representative from Binance. According to him,
“During our conversation they changed the reason for blocking my account a few times and as a conclusion it’s still blocked. The first reason was “security” the last one was “law enforcement” which they don’t want to connect me directly with. And you know what, I don’t believe them at all.”
Binance had suspended trading activities on the platform earlier this year owing to irregular transaction patterns. This development led to Syscoin suspending trade of its SYS on the platform resulting in “unusual transactions on Binance’s SYS order books.”
It would have been logical to think this user’s account was blocked due to similar unusual activities on the platform. The user, however, claimed that all his transactions have been done using well recognized cold wallets and exchanges so he sees no reason why Binance should hold his money “with no rules or reasons”.
Meanwhile, a staff of Binance had explained in an email that the blocking of the account was as a result of a directive from undisclosed “law enforcement” concerning a fraudulent act which he (the user) may not be directly involved in.
In response, the user requested to get in touch with the law enforcement, a request which was obviously not granted.
As it stands, the account may remain blocked till further notice and no clear reason has been given for the blockage which was over a month ago.
With the fear already built up in the cryptocurrency space concerning the vulnerability of exchanges, this incident is capable of scaring investors away from Binance should this issue linger and potential investors get to hear about it.
This is disturbing especially because no clear reason has been given for the exchanges’ action and the law enforcement remains anonymous and the user has not been given any direct instructions on what to do to get the problem solved.
