Bittrex US has filed for bankruptcy in a federal court in Delaware, less than a month after the US Securities and Exchange Commission accused the crypto platform of running an unregistered securities exchange.
On Monday, the US arm of cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex Global filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the company announced. official press release,
The exchange noted that the bankruptcy filing will not affect Bittrex Global, which serves customers outside the United States. The exchange will continue to operate “as usual” for customers outside the US.
In early April, Bittrex announced Due to the uncertain regulatory environment, it is shutting down US operations and asking customers to withdraw their assets.
“It is not financially viable for us to continue operating in the current US regulatory and economic environment,” Richie Lai, co-founder of Bittrex, said at the time.
Shortly after, Sec Was accused Bittrex, its co-founder and former CEO William Shihara, and its overseas affiliate Bittrex Global operate an unregistered national securities exchange, broker and clearing agency.
The agency claimed that Bittrex has facilitated the buying and selling of crypto assets since at least 2014, earning at least $1.3 billion in revenue from transaction fees.
Specifically, the commission alleged that the Bittrex listing of the tokens OMG, DASH, ALGO, Monolith (TKN), Naga (NGC), and IHT Real Estate Protocol (IHT) constituted an unregistered securities offering.
Bittrex disputed the allegations in a statement at the time.
Nevertheless, users who did not withdraw their crypto assets from the exchange by the end of April will now need to wait for the bankruptcy court to claim those funds.
“For those customers who did not withdraw their funds from the platform before the end of April, your funds remain safe and secure, and our main priority is to make sure our customers are complete.”
Is Binance.US Next To Face Legal Probe?
Some market participants have expressed concern that Binance.US, the US arm of crypto exchange Binance, may face legal action in the country.
For one, crypto veteran Adam Cochrane has suggested that the wide discrepancy between the price of cryptocurrencies on Binance.US compared to global counterparts is a sign that the platform’s market makers are being phased out.
He said in a recent tweet, “My view is that Binance has been forced out of the US market in the CFTC settlement and the rotation is continuing from BUSD->BTC->USDT, which I said is fund cross entity.” driving the market to reallocate the
For perspective, the BTC/USD pair listed on Binance.US currently trades at a roughly $650 premium to its Coinbase-listed counterpart and Binance’s bitcoin-tether pair (BTC/USDT).
Also the pseudonymous Twitter analyst @fewseethis Claimed The premium on Binance.US is likely from market makers leaving the exchange in anticipation of regulatory action.
“If there is any kind of government action against Binance.US coming and market makers who usually trade there, it is possible that they are gone and there is not enough liquidity and the possibilities for arbitrage are reduced “