Binance pivots SAFU fund toward Bitcoin holdings

The exchange said the conversion will be carried out gradually over about 30 days, moving the fund away from stablecoin-heavy holdings and toward Bitcoin, and it paired that shift with an explicit replenishment trigger: if the fund’s value falls below $800 million because of Bitcoin price swings, Binance would add Bitcoin to restore the reserve to $1 billion.

The mechanics matter because SAFU is meant to be spendable during stress, while Bitcoin is a volatile asset that can gap lower during the same market events that create customer losses and operational strain. By writing a floor into the policy, Binance is effectively turning SAFU into a dynamic reserve that can force incremental buying during drawdowns, rather than a static pool that passively fluctuates with the market.

The move comes as crypto markets have been choppy, with risk appetite moving quickly across majors and altcoins. In that environment, exchanges have been under pressure to show credible buffers, clear custody practices, and measurable liabilities coverage, especially after a multi-year cycle in which traders watched liquidity evaporate in pockets of the market. Binance has published proof-of-reserves snapshots that show customer asset balances across dozens of tokens, and it has positioned SAFU as a separate emergency layer funded through fees.

What changes with a Bitcoin-denominated SAFU is the fund’s correlation profile. A stablecoin-based reserve is designed to behave like cash: the protection amount stays close to the headline number unless the issuer or the peg breaks. A Bitcoin-heavy reserve, by contrast, can expand in bull markets and shrink in selloffs, which increases the importance of the stated $800 million threshold and the speed at which Binance is willing to top the fund back up.

Binance has described the conversion as a longer-term bet on Bitcoin’s durability as a reserve asset inside crypto, while also keeping the operational promise that the fund should remain available if users need it. The exchange has said the rotation will be completed over the coming weeks, meaning the execution will likely be visible on-chain in tranches rather than as a single print, a detail traders tend to monitor for timing, slippage control, and custody flows.