Bittrex Announces the Removal of 82 Wallets from Its Trading Platform

On March 9,Bittrex team announced the exchange will be removing 82 coin wallets from its trading platform. It is not the first time that the US-based exchange has made this move to protect the investor. It has done it before, with an aim to trim the cryptocurrencies from its exchange that are not meeting its requirements. Even some of the markets are not spared, as BTC-FAIR and BTC-START will be removed on March 30th, together with the listed token wallets.

Although investors of the coins, listed for removal, will be allowed to make withdrawals, it will not be the case for some of the wallets. This is because, the wallets for those coins are broken, which will render investors unable to make withdrawals. Users can only make withdrawals up to March 30, beyond which, the coins will not be recovered.

Reasons for the removal

There are a number of reasons as to why a large crypto exchange such as Bittrex would remove a coin from its trading platform. One of them is if it has a low demand. The exchange demands a coin to trade at least 2 BTC, in daily trading volume. If it does not meet that requirement, it is listed for removal.

Low liquidity of a coin means that it can manipulate the price of that digital currency, which will adversely affect the overall cryptocurrency market cap. It opens doors to fraudsters, who set up schemes and defraud uninformed investors to buy into that scheme. Later on, when many people buy into that scam, they dump the assets leaving the investor hanging and confused, having lost their investment. In that case, Bittrex and other top crypto exchanges remove smaller cryptocurrencies, with low liquidity and trading volume, to prevent price manipulation and protect investor interests.

Poor functioning of wallets has contributed to the removal of the coins listed by the Bittrex team. Tokens such as APEX, CRBIT, and BITS, have broken wallets. This means that investors are not able to make withdrawals at will. Those wallets are thus no longer supported by their teams, which has led to their current situation.

The SEC’s pressure on regulation

Since Bittrex is a US-based crypto exchange, it is expected to comply with the strict regulations by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Recently the SEC has announced that all crypto exchanges, operating within the USA, must register with the commission before they can undertake any form of trading. Other major exchanges are expected to fall in line, in removing tokens, which exposes investors and the cryptocurrency market to price manipulation. This could help clean up the crypto market, and exchanges, in general, and stop the current slump, in prices, of the cryptocurrencies.