Binance says Signature Bank sets $100K minimum on crypto transactions

Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, said Signature Bank ( NASDAQ: SBNY ), one of its fiat banking partners, won't support crypto exchange customer transactions of less than US$100K as of Feb. 1, 2023. "This is the case for all of their crypto exchange clients," Binance said in an emailed statement to Seeking Alpha. " As a result, some individual users may not be able to use SWIFT bank transfers to buy or sell crypto with/for USD for amounts less than 100,000 USD." SWIFT is the network banks use to send information and instructions for transferring funds internationally. Binance is working to find an alternative solution, it added. Only about 0.01% of Binance's average monthly users are serviced by Signature ( SBNY ), it said. Buying and selling crypto using credit or debit cards, another fiat currency supported by the exchange, or Binance P2P marketplace will continue to operate as usual, it said. During its Q4 earnings call earlier this month, Signature Bank ( SBNY ) said it's executing its plan to "significantly" reduce its crypto-related U.S. dollar deposits, to lower its concentration in the crypto ecosystem. It has already reduced its digital deposits by $7.4B, and plans to reduce them by an additional $3B-$5B by the end of 2023, CEO Joseph DePaolo said during Signature Bank's ( SBNY ) Q4 earnings call. "In the future, our focus will remain on blockchain technology, which is the reason we decided to enter this space in 2018," he said. Signature Bank ( SBNY ) shares have risen 0.9% in late Monday morning trading. Bloomberg had reported the new SBNY threshold on Sunday. In December, BTIG analyst Mark Palmer said Silvergate Capital ( SI ) s hould benefit from SBNY's retreat.