Bittrex International shutting down services from 31 countries.

[rosezionjohn]

10 day period to withdraw is not enough even if they emailed every user. For sure many will not be able to withdraw with this short notice. Bittrex could have given their users  at least one month regardless of the reason to discontinue their service.

Start using DEXs and avoid all this ongoing nonsense altogether.

Can't help think what if Bittrex decide to launch their own DEX?  

[o_e_l_e_o]

What if some of their users will use some VPN applications to access the Bittrex International exchange?

Provided the users haven't completed any sort of KYC, and are careful to properly hide their true IP (there are many ways a browser will leak your real IP even if you are using a VPN), then Bittrex won't know. It will be fairly obvious, though, if accounts which have logged in from Tunisian (for example) for the last several years all of sudden switch to an American or European IP.

Members often question if bitcoin can ever be destroyed, and I have always said it can't, but what happens if and when exchanges no longer exist?  Don't think that will ever happen either, but one by one they seem to be going down.

Honestly, I look forward to the day that these centralized exchanges no longer exist. I have never used a centralized exchange to turn fiat in to bitcoin and have never completed KYC, and I get by just fine. It's getting easier and easier as time goes on to not have to use one, with the growth of the peer-to-peer scene and DEXs such as BISQ. The entire point of bitcoin was to move away from using third parties. Trusting these unethical, shady, and often borderline scammy centralized exchange with your data, your documents, your coins, your money, seems backwards to me.

It is idiotic to not help these people out, you have to be caring about how much money you will make in revenue more than you care about helping people out

Welcome to centralized exchanges. Every single one is a business first and foremost, and they care much much more about their own profits than they do about their users.

[ableh]

Although we can still trade on DEX, but it seems that some traders will choose to retire, given the volume in there is very low and the transaction fee is quite large if the network is busy! Maybe this is one of the government's efforts to suppress the development of cryptocurrency? let's see what the community will do

[nelson4lov]

Well played by Bittrex. I wonder where they'll be getting their volume from now considering most of their users (all 31 countries banned + others previously not allowed) come from these countries. With the way things are going, I won't be surprising if they declare bankruptcy or even closure of their exchange. Bittrex needs to get back to winning ways else they might take similar routes like Poloniex (Locking out US users). That would make matters worse. Let's hope it doesn't get to that point.

Bittrex users (banned) are better off trading at Binance or even Huobi. They have better alts too.

[o_e_l_e_o]

I wonder where they'll be getting their volume from now considering most of their users (all 31 countries banned + others previously not allowed) come from these countries.

Do you have a source for that? Bittrex is headquartered in the US, and Bittrex International is headquartered in Malta. They serve the Americas, Europe and Asia, as well as the Middle East and Africa, which is where the majority of these banned countries are based. Why would you think that these Middle Eastern/African countries make up the majority of their volume, as opposed to US or European customers?

I have no love for Bittrex (or any centralized exchange), but I don't think this is going to be a major blow to them. If it was, they would have pushed harder to find a solution.

[TimeTeller]

10 day period to withdraw is not enough even if they emailed every user. For sure many will not be able to withdraw with this short notice. Bittrex could have given their users  at least one month regardless of the reason to discontinue their service.

Start using DEXs and avoid all this ongoing nonsense altogether.

Can't help think what if Bittrex decide to launch their own DEX? 

Didn't really expect that Bittrex will be shutting down their services to those countries.
31 is already a big number. But I think, their management had already done their part.
Studying the effect of this decision. We don't know what is the real score here.
But on my end, I was using Bittrex for some particular coins, at least they give us time to withdraw.
But hopefully, all users can do their withdrawals on that specified time.

[rodel caling]

Awst sad to heard the the bad news effect of the regulations, hope this happen to bittrex not happen to coinbase becaise of the exchange if I am not wrong is came from the US the both exchange very affected of the regulations, hoping someday the problem will be fix, I am also a bittrex user and thank you mate for sharing this news even my country aren't included in the list I sucured my coin to transfer from another wallet of exchange.

[nasipadang]

What regulations? at least if it's still not detrimental, bittrex shouldn't close it. Isn't this actually reducing the volume on their exchanger, I think that the regulation would only make more big exchangers will banning more countries to used.

[lobat999]

This is not surprising at all since Bittrex, being one of the first exchanges to  implement KYC's looks like to have been following regulatory compliance along the way but I doubt "regulatory uncertainties" is the only reason why they have decided to halt their services on those mentioned countries.

I don't know if they are sugar coating this announcement but I think these countries may have  rampant money laundering issues before  and a few of these countries also have terrorists activities which could be the main reason why Bittrex have decided to shutdown its services and maybe this is also due to U.S. Government pressure. Somehow I think it's an unfortunate event to those crypto holders who acts in good faith that might be greatly affected by this incident.

[iamaruf]

Read that article,I am confused why they stopped their services though My country is not listed but they din't mention the exact reason. It's a bad move for bittrex and I know few big traders from Pakistan they used bittrex for trade . they also mentioned that withdraw fee is greater than 3 times and minimum withdrawal for btc is BTC.00150001 or higher.

[hugeblack]

Does anyone know why these countries were banned and why now? I mean that this list contained many countries that do not have a common relationship.
I can understand why some countries are listed, but many are illogical.
It's good that they warned users and didn't do it randomly.

[LUCKMCFLY]

In the case of Venezuela, the truth is sad to see that these decisions are taken by the political pressure of the US and the EU on the government of the Country, what it does is affect the "People", now not only Bittrex, it has also joined CEX.IO, info here: https://es.cointelegraph.com/news/exchange-cexio-blocks-services-for-residents-in-venezuela.

Centralization is very negative, in the market there should be no restrictions, much less from a Country that has a disastrous economy where they see exits through Bitcoin, which represents a deflationary economy, and it is a decision that is not intelligent due to high BTC Volume negotiations that occur in the Country.

[BigBoy89]

I checked the list and seem all countries, except BiH may be, are at 'high risk of terrorism, war or under sanctions'.
This means Bittrex was most probably forced to exclude them due to regulatory concerns.

IMO more and more of the big names will implement such lists in the near future.

[gentlemand]

Regulatory uncertainty doesn't mean they're anti-crypto per se. Bittrex is trying to save their ass because it's possible that those countries start killing them when they finished the regulation.

The pathetic and eternal thing is that this 'regulatory uncertainty' comes from either the USA or the jurisdiction of their new base and has fuck all to do with the countries affected. Said countries might have the right regulation pouring out of their arse but if a bunch of bureaucrats in a far off land who probably can't even find them on a map decide they're not allowed to play then that's it.

I checked the list and seem all countries, except BiH may be, are at 'high risk of terrorism, war or under sanctions'.

Have you noticed Guyana being on the brink of war or blowing up the world? Botswana? Uganda? Trinidad?

I haven't.

[o_e_l_e_o]

Seems like there might be some "regulatory uncertainty" in Malta as well. Just spotted this on reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Bittrex/comments/dl59ht/bittrex_international_update_bittrex_global_launch/

Essentially they are shutting down "Bittrex International" which is headquartered in Malta, and launching instead "Bittrex Global" which will be headquartered in Liechtenstein.

Funny that the say they want to be the "premier global exchange" only 24 hours after withdrawing service from 31 countries...

The statement that all customers "must accept" their new Terms of Service makes me suspect there is something in those Terms of Service that people aren't going to like very much.

[figmentofmyass]

Seems like there might be some "regulatory uncertainty" in Malta as well. Just spotted this on reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Bittrex/comments/dl59ht/bittrex_international_update_bittrex_global_launch/

Essentially they are shutting down "Bittrex International" which is headquartered in Malta, and launching instead "Bittrex Global" which will be headquartered in Liechtenstein.

i haven't heard anything about changes at binance, okex, or other malta-based platforms.

i'm thinking it has less to do with malta and more to do with liechtenstein. this move comes directly after liechtenstein passed comprehensive token regulation earlier this month: https://cointelegraph.com/news/liechtensteins-parliament-unanimously-approves-new-blockchain-act

according to that article:

Bittrex chose to establish a trading platform in Liechtenstein because of the small country's clarity in regulating digital currencies and blockchain technology.

it's not clear why they need to stop service in so many countries though.

[maxreish]

Good thing they have announced it before they finally closed it down in different countries. I can't imagine if ever they go shut it down without prior notice to everyone making it as an exit scam like other scam exchanges does. Hope those users tend to withdraw their funds last Oct. 18. I've read here that their bitlicense was denied. That is the main reason why they are shutting down with 31 countries.

[maydna]

Good thing they have announced it before they finally closed it down in different countries. I can't imagine if ever they go shut it down without prior notice to everyone making it as an exit scam like other scam exchanges does. Hope those users tend to withdraw their funds last Oct. 18. I've read here that their bitlicense was denied. That is the main reason why they are shutting down with 31 countries.

They will not do that. They will give announcements to their members who lived in the country on the list. Members still have at least a week to withdraw all of their coins and move to another exchange. I guess that binance will get these benefits from the members of Bittrex because they can move to binance which don't require to complete the KYC. That could be one of the reasons why Bittrex is shutting down with 31 countries, but still, we can only guess for the real reason. We hope all members from the country on that list can withdraw their funds without a problem at all.

[o_e_l_e_o]

They will not do that.

Why not? They did it before en masse only last year, when they locked without warning the accounts of users from Egypt, Russia, and Iran. You can read the story about it here: https://coinvigilance.com/bittrex-exchange-unsafe-your-funds-are-locked-without-an-id-they-like/. They do it to individual accounts all the time, when they lock them for arbitrary or non-specific reasons, or demand more KYC documents and information, all without warning. You can see plenty of posts on here, on reddit, on twitter, of users who have had their accounts locked suddenly and had zero response from Bittrex for weeks or even months.

This is by no means unique to Bittrex. All centralized exchanges engage in this behavior. Keeping your coins on a centralized exchange is a daily gamble as to whether or not you will be allowed to access your own money. I have no idea why people still do it after all the shady stuff they've done over the years.

[The Cryptovator]

From overall discussion I have learn that shutting down their services would effect some user who are not most active. Because the timeframe isn't much longer. Even me honestly I had open my account 2 times during my 105 days vacation. So who know perhaps so many user will not noticed about their shutting down and Bittrex will seize. But this s not quite reasonable in my opinion. They should just ban them from trading, but withdrawal should remain open for long time. So users won't loss their funds.