Bittrex said on Friday that it plans to shut down its operations in the United States and voluntarily liquidate due to the uncertain regulatory environment surrounding its business.
Clients of the exchange will be able to withdraw their assets and Bittrex encouraged them to do so within 30 days. Specifically, the platform will suspend trading on April 14, 2023, but clients can withdraw all their verified balances before April 30, 2023.
โIt is simply not economically viable for us to continue to operate in the current US regulatory and economic environment. Regulatory requirements are often unclear and are applied without appropriate discussion or input, resulting in an uneven competitive landscape. . Trading in the US is no longer feasible,โ Bittrex co-founder and CEO Ritchie Lai said.
Bittrex Inc. is a Seattle-based cryptocurrency exchange that allows users to trade nearly 250 digital assets. Like other cryptocurrency companies, its non-US arm, Bittrex Global, has been domiciled in the tax-friendly jurisdiction of Liechtenstein.
Thank you allโฆ. <3 ;( pic.twitter.com/kq8nTRT0Aj
โRichie Lai (@richiela) March 31, 2023
Having started operations nine years ago, Bittrex is rated within the top 25 centralized exchanges by market volume. The exchange platform is available in more than 50 countries and processes an average daily transaction volume of $23 million. Bittrex was established in 2014 by cybersecurity engineers Bill Shihara, Richie Lai, and Rami Kawach.
In early 2019, the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) refused to grant its BitLicense to bittrexciting deficiencies in its AML rules and compliance program, as well as due diligence and checks on its tokens and product launches.
The decision to shut down the US business comes after several cryptocurrency companies have been hit with civil lawsuits in recent months. That prompted some of the major US exchanges to seek international markets to fuel growth amid fears of an impending crackdown on crypto companies in the US.
The Securities and Exchange Commission threatened potential enforcement action against the largest U.S. crypto exchange earlier this month. coin base received a letter from the SEC known as a Wells notice, which serves as a warning to the company that regulators have identified potential violations of federal securities laws or investor protection rules.
Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao were also sued by the CFTC earlier this week and the acquisition of Binance is proposed. Voyager asset was put on hold. Kraken, another US-based crypto exchange, settled with the SEC last month after being accused of failing to register under securities laws.
