Following a Recent Surge in Incidents, Binance Announced Its Long-Awaited New Feature

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has announced the rollout of a new feature aimed at enhancing user security.

This feature, called Withdrawal Protection, allows users to lock on-chain asset withdrawals for a specific period of time.

Under the new feature, users can temporarily suspend all cryptocurrency withdrawals from their accounts for a period ranging from 1 to 7 days. This “lockdown period,” set to 48 hours by default, prevents anyone, including the user, from transferring assets through the account. Binance stated that this measure was specifically developed to counter security threats involving physical force. Recently, there has been a growing number of reports, particularly in France, of cryptocurrency assets belonging to well-known figures in the crypto world being stolen through this method.

The company stated that crypto security often focuses on digital threats such as phishing attacks, fraud attempts, SIM card swapping, and seed phrase hijacking. However, the Withdrawal Protection feature offers an additional layer of protection against situations not covered by these classic measures, such as physical coercion and forced transactions.

When the feature is enabled, other functions of the user account continue to work normally. Users can trade, manage their positions, and access their accounts; however, withdrawal transactions are temporarily disabled.

By default, there is no option to unlock the device early during the lock period. This prevents users from manually unlocking the device even under duress. Users who want more flexibility can activate the “early unlock” option, allowing them to unlock the device before its expiration date using a security key and verification applications. Optionally, a different phone number or email address can be defined for additional verification.

Binance states that this new feature does not replace existing security measures, but rather complements them. Users are advised to continue using standard security practices such as multi-factor authentication (MFA), withdrawal whitelists, and anti-phishing codes.

*This is not investment advice.