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Bitfinex to Bar US Customers from Exchange Trading
Bitfinex has become the first major cryptocurrency exchange to halt the trading of ICO tokens in response to U.S. regulators.
By Wolfie Zhao
Updated Sep 13, 2021, 6:49 a.m. Published Aug 11, 2017, 10:20 p.m.
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Bitfinex, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges by volume, has announced it will no longer allow U.S. investors to purchase certain tokens on its exchange that may be at risk of running afoul with regulators.
According to the company's latest announcement, Bitfinex will also be making other changes to its service, no longer accepting verification requests for U.S. individuals effective immediately. Further, in the next 90 days, it will gradually discontinue all services to U.S. customers.
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The exchange explained that the decision follows a recent investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on how tokens issued by way of an initial coin offering (ICO) may be considered securities.
"We anticipate the regulatory landscape to become even more challenging in the future," the statement reads.
Specifically, Bitfinex expects a tightened regulation will apply to all ERC-20 tokens issued via the ethereum blockchain, citing two tokens (EOS and SAN) as offerings that will no longer be available for U.S. customers to purchase.
The company stated that it will suspending the trading of the two coins beginning 12:00 p.m. UTC on August 16.
The decision is a notable one as it is the first sign that major cryptocurrency exchanges may take action to avoid repercussions of the SEC's recent guidance, which hinted trading services would need certain registrations to sell blockchain-based securities.
According to Coinmarketcap data, Bitfinex now ranks the third largest exchange by trading volume, with $331 million in activity over the last 24 hours. EOS and SAN account for $5.7 million and $1.9 million in 24-hour trading, respectively.
Image via Shutterstock
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