Details of Binance’s On-Chain Health After DOJ $4.3B Settlement: CryptoQuant

The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, has experienced ailing on-chain activities since its $4.3 billion settlement with the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) less than two weeks ago.

According to a report by market analytics platform CryptoQuant, Binance’s reserves have steadily declined as users continue to withdraw their assets.

Binance Reserves Decline

Binance’s reserves have witnessed a 20% drawdown from their all-time high, accounting for the exchange’s largest fall in the last five years. The trading platform’s bitcoin (BTC) reserves have plummeted to around 500,000 BTC from 634,000 BTC in May.

BTC deposit transactions on Binance have also slumped to fresh lows as the exchange sees declining user interest in moving their assets to the platform.

Binance’s bitcoin spot trading volume is not left out. Last week, the figure was lower than those of rival exchanges Coinbase and OKX for the first time since June 2020.

The leading crypto exchange has been under regulatory pressure from several regions this year. Its pact with the DOJ on November 21 emerged as one of the largest crypto settlements in American history. The exchange pleaded guilty to willfully floundering the Bank Secrecy Act and failing to implement a robust anti-money laundering program on its platform.

The settlement entailed Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) exiting the role of the company’s CEO and paying a fine of $50 million. The news of CZ’s resignation caused an uptick in the number of bitcoins flowing from Binance to other exchanges, leading to the platform’s market share briefly dropping to around 40%.

Binance Maintains Its Dominance

Despite the declines and mass exodus of assets, Binance has maintained its dominance with the highest BTC reserves and 30-day cumulative net flows. The trading platform has recovered its market share, which has returned to roughly 50%.

Judging from the number of BTC moving from Binance to other exchanges over a longer time frame, the DOJ saga triggered a low amount of the asset to move from the leading platform to other trading venues.

“Moreover, the 30-day cumulative net flows in or out of the exchange remain low relative to total reserves, further demonstrating the relatively low impact of recent news when viewed from a longer time frame. Binance still remains the dominant exchange with the highest amount of total Bitcoin reserves,” CryptoQuant stated.