Binance resumes Dogecoin withdrawals, dismissing conspiracy theories

Binance has resumed Dogecoin withdrawals after an incident that occurred on November 27, 2021 when the exchange temporarily prevented operations from the altcoins’ wallets. The exchange claimed the dissruption was caused by a technical glitch due to a wallet upgrade. Binance has also announced a planned further upgrade, to a v1.14.5 version of the Dogecoin wallet. 

Users can now withdraw Dogecoin from Binance effective November 29, 2021

Users of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange suffered inconveniences when Dogecoin withdrawals were interrupted on November 27, 2021. The exchange has always been committed to ensuring a smooth user experience and began an investigation into the underlying issue. 

The exchange looked into the deposit and withdrawal operations of Dogecoin and revealed that during an update of the meme coin’s wallet to a new version 1,634 users had received old transactions, and that a series of accidental factors caused the unforeseen issue.   

Binance was the only exchange that was affected by delayed withdrawals and old transactions. The exchange summarized the series of incidents in a blog post. The post reads:

In short, if a platform: 1) DOGE has been listed in 2019, and the v1.14.0 version is used; 2) there are still transactions in the wallet that have not been executed; 3) the platform will be upgraded to v1.14.2 thereafter; 4 ) And then upgraded to v1.14.5-you may encounter this problem.

The blog explained that the exchange would now create a new Dogecoin wallet. Crypto Twitter was abuzz with reports of a quarrel taking place between Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, citing their differences as the reason for the interruption in Dogecoin withdrawals. It is claimed Zhao purposely stopped withdrawls to get back at Musk. 

Binance’s blog post has dismissed the conspiracy theories and explained that the accidental event could not have been stage-managed. No one at the exchange was held responsible for the incident, and there was no way that core maintainers of DOGE could have predicted the occurrence. 

Binance has lifted the freeze on Dogecoin withdrawals after conducting comprehensive tests. The withdrawal function is fully open effective November 29, 2021. 

Colin Wu, a Chinese journalist, shared the update in a tweet: