HitBTC only has around $3m in BTC and ETH wallets

[FreeEarnsActivist]

Crypto exchange HitBTC only has around $3m in BTC and ETH across its wallets according to analysis by Crypto regtech firm Coinfirm. Centralized exchanges hold the funds on behalf of their users, putting users at risk of hacks and providing them zero control over their funds. Furthermore, users have no idea what these exchanges are doing with the funds. In short: Your Private Key, Your Bitcoin, NOT Your Private Key, NOT Your Bitcoin.

Bitcoin (BTC) – Proof of Reserves Comparison:



2. Withdrawal issues following the new KYC/AML policy introduced by HitBTC
HitBTC didn’t force KYC on its users until it became convenient to them, following the article by Filip Zaric Moye on the 23.04.2018, “Frozen funds, excuses and confusing messages – there is a growing stack of evidence to suggest that HitBTC, the cryptocurrency exchange, is scamming some users.”



3. Comparing withdrawal fees of HitBTC vs Huobi, Okex, Binance, Kucoin, Bittrex, and Kraken:

In some cases HitBTC has 10-40X higher fees than the benchmark:



4. Anonymous team.
When we conducted our HitBTC exchange rating (https://www.cointelligence.com/exchanges_list/hitbtc/), we gave them a risk score of 7 and a team score of 0, as there is no public information available about their team.

Conclusion:
These four red flags should give anyone pause about HitBTC. The combination of the low reserves, the policies and fees which seem designed to make withdrawal of funds difficult or unappealing speaks of an exchange desperately trying to conceal its own insolvency.
Within a few seconds of querying their Platform Coinfirm generated an AML Risk Report for a major wallet allegedly tied to HitBTC which includes not just risk factors but also financial characteristics. Coinfirm has also published the industry first Know Your Exchange Report where they covered over 200 exchanges globally and provided them all risk assessments based on various parameters. In addition to the AML Risk Report below you can also see the assessment by Coinfirm in their KYE Report. You can find the full public version here (https://www.coinfirm.com/resources/coinfirm-reports), for the full version with risk assessments for each exchange please become an AMLT Network Member (https://amlt.coinfirm.com/).



This is only part of the information, the rest you will find:
https://www.cointelligence.com/content/is-hitbtc-insolvent-coinfirm-analysis-and-research-by-cointelligence-paint-a-disturbing-picture/

[BitHodler]

HitBTC is known to artificially up its trading volumes. No one with a large enough BTC stack is messed up enough to use this exchange. It's purely a noob driven exchange using it because of the shitcoins they have listed.

The artificially inflated volume numbers are the result of sites such as Coinmarketcap that rank exchanges based on reported volume, which is the most stupid thing to do because it's a metric they easily can manipulate without a penny in cost.

If you look up the traffic stats of most Asian exchanges participating in artificial volume inflation, you'll see that the nr 1 traffic provider is Coinmarketcap. In other words, manipulation pays off....

[stadus]

I'm at risk  in case of hack but I am not really trusting big money on this site, I know they are not reputable as other exchanges.
We should be careful now...

Thanks for sharing such valuable information, anyone who are keeping their money at hitbtc should think twice and study the information given.

[Slow death]

users have no idea what these exchanges are doing with the funds. In short: Your Private Key, Your Bitcoin, NOT Your Private Key, NOT Your Bitcoin.

That should not be a reason for people to stop using centralized exchanges... I think the problem is a lack of responsibility on the part of the owners of the centralized exchanges. In the real world, people use banks, they have their funds used by banks, and the bank always keeps people's funds safe and always available for withdrawals.... I'm not saying that I'm in favor of the exchanges using their clients' funds. But I am in favor of seeing responsible exchanges. The responsibility on the part of the owners of the exchanges would leave all their customers satisfied

Bitcoin (BTC) – Proof of Reserves Comparison:

this is very strange

2. Withdrawal issues following the new KYC/AML policy introduced by HitBTC

I read about it, I do not know what exactly they are asking.

3. Comparing withdrawal fees of HitBTC vs Huobi, Okex, Binance, Kucoin, Bittrex, and Kraken:

In some cases HitBTC has 10-40X higher fees than the benchmark:

the question is:

When did they increased these fees?

why do people continue to use hitbtc even knowing they will pay these fees?

4. Anonymous team.
When we conducted our HitBTC exchange rating (https://www.cointelligence.com/exchanges_list/hitbtc/), we gave them a risk score of 7 and a team score of 0, as there is no public information available about their team.

Welcome to the crypto world. 

[1Referee]

It's very odd actually that Hitbtc has just about 240BTC in its reserves, which can't be right unless they lost or stole the rest. I'm sure they easily hold over 1000BTC, but have done some back and forth moving (mixing) to (for whatever reason) obtain a bit more privacy. Hitbtc is a shady exchange after all, so that wouldn't surprise me at all.

What does shock me are the insane withdrawal fees. XRP for example is pure madness. +6XRP for a simple withdrawal reeks of greed. They can be sure that the XRP army that largely consists of noobs won't be using that exchange.

[examplens]

It's very odd actually that Hitbtc has just about 240BTC in its reserves, which can't be right unless they lost or stole the rest. I'm sure they easily hold over 1000BTC, but have done some back and forth moving (mixing) to (for whatever reason) obtain a bit more privacy. Hitbtc is a shady exchange after all, so that wouldn't surprise me at all.

What does shock me are the insane withdrawal fees. XRP for example is pure madness. +6XRP for a simple withdrawal reeks of greed. They can be sure that the XRP army that largely consists of noobs won't be using that exchange.

But it still much cheaper than 0.0015 BTC how are we asked for Bitcoin withdraw fee. I exchange BTC to Ripple just because of the lower fee

[Lucius]

If there is some truth in this information then everyone who holds some coins on this or any other exchange should think carefully before sending coins there. This really shows just how non-transparent is business of crypto exchanges, and fact that most of them set very high fees is another example of how they want to keep most coins on exchanges, by discouraging users to withdraw often.

I know withdraw fees are what make profit for them, but some really exaggerate in that. On the other hand, maybe it is better to have such fees then to force exchanges to seek profit in another way (by selling users data).

[stadus]

If there is some truth in this information then everyone who holds some coins on this or any other exchange should think carefully before sending coins there.

What recently happen to Binance should served as a lesson to everyone who holds their coins in an exchange.

Users just got bailed by the SAFU funds, and AFAIK only Binance has a SAFU funds, so other exchange is not safe, and even if Binance have the SAFU funds, there's a big possibility that next time would be bigger that they might not be able to cover.

So reflect on that and learn, no exchange is exempted.

[Yoshinoya]

not so interested in the hitbtc exchange, because the withdrawal fees are very large, compared to other exchanges.

[figmentofmyass]

It's very odd actually that Hitbtc has just about 240BTC in its reserves, which can't be right unless they lost or stole the rest. I'm sure they easily hold over 1000BTC, but have done some back and forth moving (mixing) to (for whatever reason) obtain a bit more privacy. Hitbtc is a shady exchange after all, so that wouldn't surprise me at all.

since this is only from external inspection of the blockchain, coinfirm probably doesn't have the full picture. cold storage holdings can be difficult to analyze with their methodology. any cold storage address that isn't used to sign at least one transaction won't be included in its reserves.

i too would be surprised if they only had 240 BTC. but i also wouldn't be surprised if they were insolvent considering the way they've disabled withdrawals in the past, jacked up withdrawal fees to obscene amounts (obviously to discourage people from attempting withdrawal), and added new KYC requirements they know many users will never pass.

it looks like they're gonna implode eventually, quadriga style.

[milewilda]

it looks like they're gonna implode eventually, quadriga style.

Same thoughts on my mind and i wont really be surprised that one day maybe tomorrow or on next week or next month.This exchange would just simply ran off or shutdown.
The way they are doing right now is typically a bullshit style on handling their users where restricting withdrawals and imposing kyc just to block any outgoing tx's.
They have been shady a wayback before thats why i decided on to stop using their service as early as i can.

[timerland]

I don't think that this should be news to anyone at all.

HitBTC has long had a record of being extremely shady, which is the reason why they have had negative trust in the past. I've always speculated that it is extremely likely their track record of being strict with AML procedures when people try to withdraw (as opposed to carrying out verification when people were depositing), had something to do with intentionally holding funds.

I really doubt that they have that little in reserve, though if they did, it would provide an explanation as to why they are so strict with KYC at inopportune times for the user, possibly to avoid liquidity problems.

[Goldshredder]

It's not just the fees.

Their method of using odd and varied numbers of decimal points for different pairs, means that every account ends up with loads of unspendable and unwithdrawable dust.  

Every single account ever used for trading diverse pairs on that exchange, has probably left behind an average of $5-10 (guessing, based on my own old account there from years ago) of untradeable and unrecoverable dust.

A factor of at least 10x (probably more like 100x) dust generation compared to other exchanges.

[magneto]

I don't think that anyone denies the fact HitBTC is extremely risky to use. Their reputation has pretty much been this way for a very long time now.

However, what is surprising is the sheer amount of difference between what they presumably have in outstanding balances and what they actually have, at least according to this report, which would imply that they're running a fractional reserve.

I've suspected before that HitBTC may be running a fractional reserve, which may be the reason with many of the complaints. And it should be clear that it's better to just avoid using them altogether. But I'm interested to see where these stats are gained from.

[FreeEarnsActivist]

It's going to look like a bank system, all users will not withdraw at the same time.

[Vishnu.Reang]

Having a bad feeling about HitBTC right now. I think something is not right with that exchange. Just saw another thread (in another sub-forum), in which an user was claiming that the withdrawals are getting delayed. And it looks to me that they recently increased the withdrawal fee. For example, they are charging more than $6 for Litecoin withdrawals. This is just crazy...

[CryptoBry]

Having a bad feeling about HitBTC right now. I think something is not right with that exchange. Just saw another thread (in another sub-forum), in which an user was claiming that the withdrawals are getting delayed. And it looks to me that they recently increased the withdrawal fee. For example, they are charging more than $6 for Litecoin withdrawals. This is just crazy...

Unless the management of HitBTC can resolve the many problems it is experiencing right now, I think this exchange can be facing a bleak future. Why would anyone will continue doing business with this if they are exhibiting many red flags? Of course, users will be cautious with them and soon their business will halt. We all know that HitBTC got so many complaints even before this latest incident and now so many developments are taking place not favorable to the exchange. We should pressure HitBTC to behave the way they should be by releasing withdrawals, first and foremost.

[jerry0]

is it safe to use hitbtc now?

[examplens]

is it safe to use hitbtc now?

I think it is safe, I made some trade there and withdrawal even if not a big money but still working normally. I withdraw Doge coin from there because the fee is only 2 doge and exchange Doge to BTC or eth on exchange with normal fee rate.