BITTREX CRYPTO EXCHANGE DECLARED BANKRUPTCY IN THE USA

After ceasing operations in the United States, Bittrex Inc. filed for bankruptcy in the Delaware County Court. The application was submitted on May 8. In the document, the cryptocurrency exchange reports that it has assets and liabilities in the range of $0.5 billion to $1 billion. The "daughters" of the exchange will also be involved in the bankruptcy process: Bittrex Inc. (Seattle), two firms in Malta and Desolation Holdings LLC.

Representatives of the crypto exchange reported that the application to the court should not affect the work of Bittrex Global GmbH, writes Reuters. She is registered in Liechtenstein and is engaged in customer service outside the scope of American justice.

As for the crypto assets owned by US clients, they also continue to be in the accounts of those who did not have time to withdraw them before the end of April. Representatives of the digital platform said that the assets themselves are protected and are safe. Bittrex plans to ask the court to allow limited opening of these accounts for those customers who would like to get their savings back.

In the ranking of financial analysts, Bittrex was in the top hundred (62nd place according to Coin Market Cap). The crypto exchange started its start in 2014. To date, the volume of its trades per day was more than $8 million.

The organization's problems began a few weeks after William Shihara, one of the founders of Bittrex, and the company itself were accused of violating US law. The State Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) considered that the firm works as a financial broker without registration, performs the functions of a clearing agency.

Before that, the company had already been fined for violating the norms of the legislation on bank secrecy. This happened in October 2022 at the initiative of the structures of the US Treasury. The offense itself, for which a fine of $ 29 million had to be paid, is related to transactions bypassing sanctions in the period from 2014 to 2017. Bittrex then illegally carried out transactions for $263.45 million.

In March 2023, the company's management announced that it was leaving the United States. The co-owner of the crypto exchange, Rich Lai, said that he does not see the economic feasibility of continuing to work in the states, given the peculiarities of regulatory regulation in the country. According to an SEC statement dated April 17, the former head of the Shihara organization advised issuers not to post public statements that allow them to interpret tokens as securities.

It is known that the largest unsecured creditor of the organization is the structure of the US Treasury, OFAC, whose functions include control of foreign assets. The organization also indicated 16 clients with more than $1 million in crypto exchange accounts. One of them has $14.6 million in his account.

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