BNB, the fourth-largest cryptocurrency with a $32 billion market value, has fallen to its lowest in more than a year following a news report regarding fresh risks over Russia sanctions added to already mounting regulatory and legal pressure on the company. The token sank to as low as $204 earlier Tuesday afternoon, its weakest level since June 2021’s crypto market crash.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Binance, the crypto exchange closely linked to BNB, was facilitating Russian users’ ability to move money abroad despite widespread international sanctions. This comes on top of a lawsuit from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for multiple federal securities laws violations such as commingling customer funds and listing unregistered securities like BNB and Binance USD on the platform.
The decline of BNB has had a ripple effect on the broader crypto markets, as the price of Bitcoin (BTC) also declined to session lows below $25,800. A looming liquidation of a crypto loan secured by $130 million worth of BNB on decentralized finance protocol Venus also adds pressure to the token’s price. BNB Chain is coordinating with Venus to dismantle the loan in an orderly fashion to avoid “cascading liquidation” and “unnecessary damage to the market,” according to a Venus governance vote.
The BNB Chain developer team liquidated a $30 million chunk of the outstanding debt on Monday, which somewhat helped ease liquidation risks. Following the partial liquidation, BNB Chain received $30 million USDT from a Binance wallet, blockchain data on Arkham Intelligence show.