Crypto exchanges Binance and KuCoin reported the outages on their official social media accounts, saying the issues were caused by a network interruption on one Amazon Web Service (AWS) data center. At around 08:05 AM UTC Tuesday, Binance posted on X that “they were aware” of the problem affecting its services and that they had suspended withdrawals. “Our team is working closely with AWS to resolve this as quickly as possible,” the Binance support team posted. KuCoin also gave its statement on the outage, stating: “ Due to a large-scale network outage with AWS services, our platform is experiencing temporary disruptions. Our technical team is urgently working on a fix, and the recovery time will be announced separately. Rest assured that your assets remain secure and all data is intact. We kindly ask you to stay tuned to official announcements and be wary of false information .” AWS outages solved, crypto services restarted Thirty minutes after Binance made their announcement, the exchange followed up with an update on the continuation of all services, including withdrawals. “ Please note that some services might experience delays while the system fully recovers. We will continue to monitor to ensure that all operations run smoothly. Thank you for your patience and understanding ,” the follow-up post noted. We are aware of an issue impacting some services on the #Binance platform due to a temporary network interruption in the AWS data center. Some orders are still successful, but some are failing. If users failed, they may keep retrying. Our team is working closely with AWS to… — Binance (@binance) April 15, 2025 KuCoin has not yet made any comments or updates after their initial post. The outage also impacted other crypto-affiliated entities, including DeFi interface DeBank and multi-chain wallet Rabby, although the specific disruptions to their services were not detailed. Gate.io’s Chief Business Officer, Kevin Lee, told his followers that the exchange’s users may encounter slowness when accessing their website or mobile app. “ However, trading, deposits, and withdrawals are business as usual, ” Lee added. AWS breaks silence over incident, promises updates Amazon Web Services issued a status update to tell the public the issue had been resolved, noting that multiple services had been affected. “ We are seeing initial signs of recovery but continue to monitor and work toward full recovery, ” AWS wrote in a public update at 8:50 AM UTC. The company promised to provide more updates within 30 to 60 minutes. AWS is one of the primary cloud infrastructure providers for about 12 centralized exchanges, including Binance, Crypto.com, Coinbase, Kraken, Huobi, and BitMEX. The entities prefer using the company’s infrastructure for high-volume transactions with low latency. The company has yet to specify the root cause of the data center issue but has continued to assure clients of its ongoing recovery efforts. It also did not indicate how many clients were affected or which regions experienced the heaviest impact. Public in angst over AWS reliance On social media, several commentators lamented about CEXes using a centralized cloud provider for financial platforms claiming they are decentralized. One user asked , “ AWS? Thought you guys were all about decentralization. Maybe time to look at that Lightning Network thing I keep hearing about .” Others, like the co-founder of Auki Network, Santeri Aramo, coined the incident as an example of the structural weaknesses of centralized infrastructure. “ Centralized fragility on full display. Binance and KuCoin just went down due to an AWS outage. Withdrawals suspended. Billions at risk… again, ” he beckoned. Aramo advocated for using decentralized alternatives that remove single points of failure. “ This is exactly why we build decentralized infrastructure, ” he added. “ No gatekeeper. No lock on your funds. Own your keys. Own your future. ” The April 15 outage is the latest reminder of the tight coupling between centralized cloud services and the daily functioning of crypto exchanges. The dependence on a single cloud provider means that a technical hiccup in one data center could cripple crypto exchanges that millions use, halt withdrawals, and freeze interfaces. “ People complain about stablecoins being centralized while an AWS outage would take all of DeFi down ,” said blockchain expert and former Citibank contributor Austin Campbell. Cryptopolitan Academy: Want to grow your money in 2025? Learn how to do it with DeFi in our upcoming webclass. Save Your Spot
