Bittrex To Narrow Down Operations in the US

By Prashant Jha

Recently, we reported how top cryptocurrency exchange Binance had suspended operations for US customers and had planned to launch a US-specific portal. Now, it seems that US-based trading platform Bittrex is also following in the footsteps of Binance, narrowing down the extent of markets available to its users on American soil.

According to what Bittrex noted on 14th June, 2019, it is working on making fewer markets available to users in the US. This change will take effect from the 28th of June, 2019.

These markets will then be moved to Bittrex International, the platform meant to serve users who are not American citizens.

Therefore US citizens will no longer be able to avail of buying and selling opportunities in these markets via Bittrex. However, they will still be able to hold and withdraw these assets in and from their Bittrex wallets.

Likewise, open trades on the 28th of June will automatically be closed down. However, to make the switch smoother for all customers, Bittrex will send an email to all its US-based customers to let them know about “what they can and cannot do with their affected Tokens/Coins in connection with this change before an affected market is no longer accessible.”

As a result of this move, a total of 42 cryptocurrencies will become inaccessible to users of Bittrex in the United States. These include altcoins such as OmiseGo, Power Ledger, Bloom, Bancor, Aragon, BANKEX etc.

Although these are not the most popular among altcoins, their discontinuation is still likely to have a significant impact on the trading habits of US-based users of Bittrex.

In fact, the prices of all these altcoins have taken a hit after the Bittrex announcement was made, suggesting that effects were showing up already.

We can only hope that this move will not necessarily accentuate the altcoin winter that is seemingly setting in.

Although it is not entirely clear why Bittrex made this decision, it seems that like Binance, it is also steering clear of the regulatory issues that are becoming commonplace in the US crypto market.