Bitcoin’s price exploded in the past hour following an announcement from the electric vehicle giant Tesla that it had purchased $1.5 billion of the primary cryptocurrency in January. However, the massive volatility and perhaps growing interest have caused technical difficulties for the Malta-based exchange Binance.
- CryptoPotato reported earlier today that Elon Musk’s Tesla had allocated $1.5 billion in Bitcoin in January 2021, per a Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
- Naturally, such a massive announcement from one of the world’s most powerful companies impacted the asset price. In the following minutes, BTC added almost $6,000 of value, broke its previous ATH record at $42,000, and went to chart a new record just shy of $45,000.
- These developments have brought unexpected issues for the leading crypto exchange – Binance. The company said on its Twitter account that “we are aware of some temporary difficulties,” and promised that “our team is working on it.”
- Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao explained that the problems are due to “massive incoming traffic.” He noted that the lags are observed only in some regions and also asserted that everything should be resolved soon. Interestingly, he believes that it’s “all because of Elon.”
- Nevertheless, users were not happy as they expect to have instant access to their funds especially during times of extreme volatility. Even the popular British YouTuber KSI complained about the issues on Twitter.
- Something similar transpired in mid-January when Musk updated his Twitter profile to include only the word “Bitcoin.” The price went parabolic again and Binance, Kraken, and Bittrex experienced tech difficulties. However, the situation was rapidly resolved in all platforms.