American Crypto Exchange Bittrex Declares Bankruptcy Amid SEC Scrutiny – is Binance US Next?
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 in an official press release.
The exchange noted that the bankruptcy filing would not impact Bittrex Global, which serves customers outside the United States. The exchange will continue operations "as normal" for customers outside the US.
In early April, Bittrex announced that it is shutting down US operations due to an uncertain regulatory environment and asked customers to withdraw their assets.
“It’s just not economically viable for us to continue to operate in the current U.S. regulatory and economic environment,” Bittrex co-founder Richie Lai said at the time.
Shortly after, the SEC charged Bittrex, its co-founder and former CEO William Shihara, and its foreign affiliate Bittrex Global for operating 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 revenues from transaction fees.
Specifically, the commission alleged that Bittrex listing of tokens OMG, Dash, ALGO, Monolith (TKN), Naga (NGC), and IHT Real Estate Protocol (IHT) constituted unregistered securities offerings.
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 decide the method by which those funds can be claimed.
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