People can now withdraw Bitcoin from Binance again.
The popular crypto trading site recently announced that it has unblocked Bitcoin (BTC) withdrawals following a congestion caused by a heavy volume of pending withdrawals and a surge in processing fees.
This halt is the second one Binance had to execute recently due to the congestion caused by the heavy withdrawal volumes and surge in processing fees.
Binance BTC Withdrawal Resumption Details
Binance recently paused its BTC withdrawals a second time for around two hours on the after of May 7 in the US as the number of unconfirmed transactions hit a record high, according to the site's official Twitter page.
The company mentioned that it didn't expect a large volume of withdrawal transactions on its platform as its set fees did not anticipate the recent surge in BTC network gas fees.
At the time Binance implemented the pause, its team was working on a fix to solve the congestion caused by the heavy volume of pending withdrawals and surge in processing fees. It also promised it would open BTC withdrawals as soon as it could.
Coindesk reported that the number of unconfirmed transactions at the time was approaching 500,000 when the second pause happened, a 100,000 increase from when the first pause happened.
"Rest assured, funds are (Secure Asset Fund For Users)," Binance said to reassure users about their funds' security on its platform. However, they didn't have to wait for very long - Binance's second pause only lasted over two hours.
The solution Binance's team came up with was to replace the pending BTC withdrawal transactions with a higher fee so its mining pools could pick them up. Should everything go as planned, which it did, Binance would reopen BTC withdrawals in the next hour.
To prevent pausing BTC withdrawals and unexpectedly large volumes of withdrawal transactions in the future, Binance announced it's adjusting transaction fees to the new, higher one and that it will continue to monitor on-chain activity and adjust accordingly if needed.
This new transaction fee of $19.21 is double the one Binance had in March, pushing it to a two-year high, per YCharts. The new fee is also 309% higher than it was a year ago, based on the publication's line graph as of press time.
Bitcoin Status In May 2023
Following a crypto winter that saw cryptocurrencies' values fall to record lows, BTC is now seeing a resurgence in value. According to Forbes Advisor, the price of BTC rose above $30,000 in April, which could be a sign that the crypto winter is coming to an end.
This increase could be credited to investors seeking shelter in BTC and other top cryptos like Ethereum from the recession and the US banking crisis. As such, it's difficult not to be optimistic about the rise - the last time BTC saw an increase in value was in June 2022.
