Binance’s emergency reserve fund is sitting on a paper profit of $217 million nearly three months after converting $1 billion in stablecoins into Bitcoin, as the crypto asset climbed past $81,000 on Tuesday.
The fund, known as the Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU), built a 15,000 BTC position through four separate purchases executed over 13 days earlier this year, with an average cost basis of $67,000.
The stash is now worth over $1.2 billion. Binance said it may rebalance the fund if its value drops below $800 million.
Bitcoin has seen sharp volatility this year, and despite a recent recovery, it is still down around 7% year-to-date and about 35% off its $126,000 peak set last October.
Origin of the fund
Binance created SAFU in July 2018 after a string of early exchange hacks. The structure was simple: the exchange funneled 10% of all trading fees into a dedicated reserve. For years, that reserve sat mostly in stablecoins like USDC. By the end of 2021, the fund had crossed the $1 billion mark.
Swapping the full reserve into Bitcoin reflects a shift in strategy as well as belief. Stablecoins are built for price stability, while Bitcoin is still tied to volatility, often moving by double digits in a week. Binance is effectively betting that Bitcoin offers better long-term value.
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