• Bitcoin prices recently dropped nearly 3%, raising concerns of a further downtrend.
• Binance temporarily stopped allowing BTC withdrawals due to an excessive amount of transactions in the mempool.
• The worth of these transactions was over $5 billion, causing bitcoin withdrawal services to be halted for the second time in 12 hours.
Recent Drop in Bitcoin Prices
The recent dip in Bitcoin prices has raised concerns among investors about a further downtrend. The cryptocurrency saw a nearly 3% drop, causing some to believe that the market is entering a bearish phase. This development has left many wondering what it could mean for the future of Bitcoin and whether it can recover from this setback.
Binance Suspends Withdrawals
In order to cope with the large number of pending transactions, Binance had to briefly halt Bitcoin withdrawals due to an alleged overflow of transactions on the blockchain. Over half an hour later, withdrawals were once again permitted. However, on May 8th, Binance reported again that they had temporarily closed BTC withdrawals due to the large volume of pending transactions which totaled 400,000 and 485,000 respectively. These transactions were worth more than $5 billion and caused Binance to halt BTC withdrawals for the second time in 12 hours.
High Transaction Fees
Due to congestion on the blockchain network and high transaction fees associated with processing these expensive payments, OKX warned users about saving money by using their lightning network as opposed to making direct payments with bitcoin through their platform. This warning was issued shortly after Binance’s second withdrawal suspension within 12 hours due to an excessive amount of pending transactions waiting in line for processing on the blockchain network.
Insider Activity?
Data from WhaleWire suggests that there has been a massive outflow from Binance at 162 000 BTC which is valued at over $4.6 Billion USD creating speculation around insider activity or whales jumping ship ahead of another downturn in bitcoin prices.
Conclusion
As we have seen lately with Bitcoin’s price movements and subsequent exchange suspensions related to transaction backlogs, there is still much uncertainty surrounding where this digital asset will go next amidst its volatility swings and lack of regulation across markets globally