CryptoBridge, the popular exchange that hosted a number of well performing coins in 2017, has announced that it is to shut down, citing a lack of funding and “increasing regulation” as the reasons for its closure. Once a popular exchange for picking up unknown projects, the exchange also operated their own BCO token, which was heavily hyped when it launched, but will also naturally be scrapped.
CryptoBridge was a well-used and popular decentralized exchange that barely had a bad word said against it during its operation, which naturally peaked in 2017 with the rest of the market. It was a good place to hunt for low cap gems before they were picked up by bigger exchanges, and yesterday’s cancellation announcement alluded to this:
Our primary goal was to connect users and traders of crypto assets with new state of the art projects and to consistently provide superior service. We put in a lot of hard work and did everything in our power to make the outcome different, but market conditions, increasing regulation, inability to fund further development and maintain operations forced us to make a difficult decision.
The exchange’s stakeable BCO token was a roaring success initially, hitting $8.79 in January 2018, before it suffered the same fate as the rest of the market and dumped all the way down to $0.02 before the announcement, which leaves it now worthless.
Regulations Take Their Toll
As a potential nod to the burdensome regulations that are starting to hit crypto exchanges, particularly the FATF regulations that were green lit in July, the announcement states that “verification is required by EU law for all withdrawals”, which clearly rubbed some users up the wrong way:
To withdraw you have to send your verification so they can sell your info. pic.twitter.com/bB7jZExUSt
— CryptoRally (@cryptorally) December 2, 2019
More to Come?
CryptoBridge is another in the growing list of exchanges that have found the last 18 months hard going, some operations such as Liqui and CoinExchange, closing down completely while others, such as with ShapeShift, Huobi, and Hosho had to lay off staff to survive. With little signs of return to the heady days of 2017 ahead, we could see yet more smaller exchanges bite the dust.
