Bitcoin Based-Memecoin Surge Seen Driving Binance Anxiety
- Binance resumed Bitcoin withdrawals after 2 pauses Sunday
- Transaction fees are being driven higher by memecoin issuance
Photographer: Bing Guan/Bloomberg
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The oldest cryptocurrency blockchain is being clogged up by a recent spate of Bitcoin-based memecoins such as Pepe, driving up transaction fees and renewing concern about the largest digital-asset trading platform.
Binance halted withdrawals of Bitcoin twice in less than 12 hours on Sunday, citing congestion on the network. The exchange, which is embroiled in a fight with US regulators, said higher fees have been applied to pending transactions so they get picked up by Bitcoin miners — the computer rigs that operate the network. The Bitcoin offshoots are known as BRC-20 tokens.