Binance has made the decision to convert $1 billion of its money for the Industry Recovery Initiative from Binance USD Coin (BUSD) to Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Binance Coin (BNB). This action by Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao coincides with recent investigation of the stablecoin BUSD by the US authorities.
The Industry Recovery Initiative was established to assist cryptocurrency projects that were having liquidity problems following the bankruptcy of FTX, Binance's rival exchange, which occurred in November. The fund's initial holdings were BUSD worth $1 billion. In a tweet, CZ declared that these money would be converted to local cryptocurrencies and added that some fund transfers would take place on-chain.
Given the changes in stable coins and banks, #Binance will convert the remaining of the $1 billion Industry Recovery Initiative funds from BUSD to native crypto, including #BTC, #BNB and ETH. Some fund movements will occur on-chain. Transparency.
— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) March 13, 2023
Despite the recent crash of SVB, BTC, ETH, and BNB continue to rise. At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading at $22,502, up roughly 10% on a daily basis.
In the meantime, Ethereum's price increased by 9.62% over the previous 24 hours to reach $1,615. Unaffected by the BUSD controversy, Binance Coin had a 9.43% price increase and was trading at $305.31.
The decision to convert the remaining IRI money to native crypto has garnered positive feedback from the cryptocurrency community. While some have praised CZ for his "bullish" move, others have pointed out that BTC, ETH, and BNB are under $1 billion worth of buying pressure. The recent modifications to stablecoins and banks are also to blame for the decision to convert BUSD to BTC, ETH, and BNB.
It is unclear how this decision will affect Binance's reputation in the cryptocurrency industry as the exchange gets ready to redirect the Industry Recovery Initiative's attention to native crypto. But, it is evident that Binance is not content to merely observe while the cryptocurrency market is developing at a quick pace.
