CEX.IO Status Update
In 2013, we have started CEX.IO with the mission to enable as many people as possible to participate in cryptocurrency markets.

Making it easier and simpler for anyone to derive the value from the growing ecosystem was the major driver for all the business decisions we have made. Yet, maintaining the best industry standards to build trust with our users was the principle we have always upheld as our highest priority.

As 2017 has shown explosive growth of interest to cryptocurrencies, we have been an exchange of choice for many of those who are just joining the market. Our user base grew 200% this year.

In November alone, the number of registrations was 9 times higher compared to November 2016. During the first 20 days of December 2017, more than 300,000 people became our customers. We’ve been excited by this growth and also humbled by the loyalty of our existing users.

The inflow of registrations, however, has put additional pressures on our support and verification teams. To maintain security that has earned CEX.IO the reputation of the trusted exchange, we choose to stick to our strict AML and KYC policies, even if it comes at the expense of on-boarding speed.

We believe that keeping our principles intact while improving internal processes is the best long-term strategy.

In this light, there are some matters we would like to clarify and commitments we want to restate to our users.

Delays in withdrawal processing
Temporary suspension of Visa withdrawals has caused an influx of withdrawals via alternative methods. That resulted in additional delays and some need for selective manual transaction processing. Our team is focused on fixing the technical issues with Visa and clearing the backlog. Please note that our relationships with Visa and MasterCard remain intact.

Delays in verification processing
As we stated above, the flood of new registrations has congested our verification function. Our KYC and AML procedures impose a certain amount of time required for each registration to process. Going below this time would be an equivalent to stepping away from our commitment to best industry standards. Hence, instead, we choose to temporary pause new registrations and allocate extra efforts and resources to processing the current queue.

Our security and liquidity
There have been some speculations that our security may have been compromised or we may be experiencing liquidity issues. None of these claims are true. Both our technical security and our financial position are continuously monitored and remain solid.

Note that we are not alone experiencing delays and technical glitches in this time of accelerated growth. Many of our counterparts in the industry have been in the same boat and have taken measures varying from halting registrations to even going dark for some periods of time. We are working non-stop on shortening the delays and improving the processes so that our clients can continue using our services uninterrupted.

Going forward
We are honored to have earned the trust of our clients, and we are committed to maintaining this trust. We recognize that, for a moment, the size of our support and verification teams was not adequate to respond to the increased demand for our services. We are now adding more resources and doubling the size of these teams. Rest assured, every ticket will get processed and resolved.

We will be providing frequent status updates via Twitter and Facebook.

Thank you for your trust, loyalty, and support. It means a lot to us, and we are committed to providing the best services to our clients.

With gratitude,

CEX.io team