In order to boost the market, Binance has announced its plan to convert $1 billion worth of Binance USD (BUSD) to various tokens including bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), BNB coin (BNB), and others. According to Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao's tweet on Monday, the transaction from Binance's industry fund to BUSD only took 5 seconds and cost a mere $1.29. As a result of this move, there was likely an increase in buying pressure, as seen in bitcoin's jump over $22,500 in Asian hours on Monday and ether regaining the $1,600 market. Additionally, BNB rose by over 10%, trading over $300 and reaching two-week highs, according to CoinGecko data.
The decision to convert $1 billion worth of BUSD into various tokens was made amidst another setback for the crypto market, as U.S. regulators closed down Signature Bank, which was known to be supportive of cryptocurrencies, in early Asian hours. This added to the already existing stress on the market. Last week, regulators had shut down Silvergate, and on Friday night, Silicon Valley Bank collapsed. As a result, investors were apprehensive about the market and took measures to safeguard their capital, causing the markets to become chaotic over the weekend.