If you’re a US-based Bittrex customer, then chances are you’ve had some rather bad news this week, as the platform announced that it’s cutting access to 32 tokens for US-based crypto traders. As of June 21st, 32 altcoin markets will move over to the Bittrex International platform, meaning US-based users will have to trade those tokens elsewhere. If you’re a US-based hodler of the 32 tokens, you only have a handful of days to find a new exchange to trade those tokens on or sell them for other tokens that will remain available to US-based customers.
Who’s Getting the Axe?
For the projects, getting delisted from the US crypto trading market on Bittrex is a major pain, as the US makes up for a large portion of daily volume and ownership of the impacted tokens. It looks as if Bittrex has been forced to make the cuts as Trump doubles down on sanctions with various nations around the globe. When Bittrex comes out and explains its reasoning for culling the tokens from the US markets, we will likely hear an excuse along the lines of “regulatory pressure”.
The following tokens are on the chopping block and will be axed on June 21st :
- ADT
- CMCT
- GO
- MFT
- QRL
- XEL
- AMP
- DNT
- GTO
- MOBI
- QTUM
- XNK
- BAY
- DTA
- HYDRO
- NLC2
- RFR
- BCPT
- ENG
- IHT
- NMR
- STORJ
- BLOCK
- FCT
- ION
- PRO
- STORM
- BOXX
- FLDC
- LBA
- PTOY
- SWT
Issues With the NYFDS
Bittrex has been trying to get its hands on a BitLicense in order to operate in New York for quite some time now, but last month the New York Department of Financial Services (NYFDS) finally rejected the exchange. In a letter to Bittrex, the NYFDS slammed the exchange for malpractice and banned the exchange from operating in the state. Citing inadequate AML compliance, lack of due diligence when launching tokens and inadequate capital, the rejection letter was unwelcome in the Bittrex office. These could be the same reasons regulators are giving Bittrex over the 32 tokens, and we could see more tokens exit the platform very soon if this is correct.
Bittrex has made some questionable decisions in the past, and this opens up a wide range of possibilities for why these tokens are being moved to Bittrex International. Last year, Bittrex sunk €15 million into a Malta-based startup that very much looks like a scam. Hopefully, Bittrex can turn around its fortunes in America before it’s forced to leave the country and only operate where regulators are willing to turn a blind eye to these issues – this could be why Bittrex International is stationed in Malta. Either way, US-based customers need to find alternatives for trading these cryptos!
