Einstein Crypto Exchange Seized by Canadian Securities Regulator

[Raja_MBZ]

"Not your keys, not your coins!"

Einstein Crypto Exchange Seized by Canadian Securities Regulator

Canadian securities regulators have seized control of the Einstein cryptocurrency exchange.

The British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) announced Monday that it had filed to take control of Einstein Exchange after the platform said on Oct. 31 that it planned to shut down its operations within the next 60 to 90 days. Einstein owes its customers $12.4 million ($16.3 million CAD), according to a court filing.

The Supreme Court of British Columbia granted the BCSC’s order and appointed accounting firm Grant Thornton as interim receiver to take control of the Vancouver-based exchange’s assets, going so far as to authorize Grant Thornton to take possession over any of Einstein’s properties and assets. A court order authorized Grant Thornton to forcibly enter any of Einstein’s business premises if necessary.

The firm entered and secured the premises of Einstein Exchange on Nov. 1.

~snip~

[joniboini]

To think they have the balls to close their business when they owe their customer more than 10 million dollars. What a crazy world I live in. I can't even access their website now.

[magneto]

Expect regulations to tighten like they did in recent years that contributed to this.

Also, use regulated exchanges where possible. Don't blindly put faith in sites that seems to have a reputation and nothing else, no credentials or licenses. They are likely to get cracked down in the very near future.

It's completely warranted to stress the importance of holding your own private keys. I think that awareness has not been raised enough about this.

[LeGaulois]

...

There is nothing wrong with using an exchange unregulated, I would even say that it is a little unproductive to say that you shouldn't use an exchange that doesn't have a license. It should be remembered that one of the bases of cryptocurrency is first and foremost to avoid regulations. We were all using exchanges without licenses when it was not a problem to not have any, and we were fine.

Always the same advice, to not use an exchange as a wallet to store coins, you don't know what could happen the next day (hacks, etc) but it concerns all exchanges, regulated or not doesn't matter.

F**k these licenses and other BS. Bitcoin is not designed for that

[Mahanton]

F**k these licenses and other BS. Bitcoin is not designed for that

Hate it or not we would definitely go to this route.Bitcoin isnt really designed to be regulated but as long government do exist they do really had the power to imply rules and regulations as they like and if you oppose? then expect on what would happen.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Expect regulations to tighten like they did in recent years that contributed to this.

Yep.  I never heard of this exchange and don't really know what happened, but when the government has to go in and take control of an exchange, you can bet there are going to be laws passed--especially if people have lost significant sums of money.  Crackdowns always happen after situations like these, and you can bet that other countries are paying attention to what's going on.

F**k these licenses and other BS. Bitcoin is not designed for that

I agree with your assessment, but countries are always going to try to regulate stuff like this.  I'm actually surprised that so many unregulated exchanges still exist these days and that so few laws have been passed thus far.  The crypto world isn't going to remain in the wild west days forever, and I imagine that things are going to look much, much different in another ten years or so.

[target]

Its time for regulations so if they have no license I guess ifthey can generate one from the Canadian government, they can reopen it again. That is if they can acquire one.

If I may just ask since we are already here in this topic, what happens to the native coin of the exchange if they released on while the exchange were seized by authorities?

[logfiles]

Its time for regulations so if they have no license I guess ifthey can generate one from the Canadian government, they can reopen it again. That is if they can acquire one.

If i understand the notice very well, i think the seizure is not about a license or something like that. It's because the chaps were planning to stage what i would call an exit scam( shut down while owning customers lot's of money)

The seizure was made to protect customers from lots of financial damage.

[Baofeng]

This is the official source:

https://www.bcsc.bc.ca/News/News_Releases/2019/68_BCSC_acts_to_protect_customers_of_Einstein_Exchange_crypto-asset_trading_platform/

And here is the update:

Canada’s Einstein Exchange shuts down — and all the money’s gone

Yet another Canadian crypto exchange goes down — this time, the Einstein exchange in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, which was shut down by the British Columbia Securities Commission on 1 November.

Yesterday, 18 November, the news came out that there’s nothing left at all — the money and cryptos are gone.

Einstein’s problem was that it didn’t have all the customer funds it claimed to. Withdrawals were processed from the pool of crypto and fiat deposits — Einstein could only process withdrawals if there were enough deposits on hand. And … Einstein was deficient in both fiat and cryptos.

https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2019/11/19/einstein-exchange-all-the-moneys-gone/

So they have no money at all to pay for those account holders, this is the second case wherein two Canadian exchanges have have exit scams already.

[carlfebz2]

So they have no money at all to pay for those account holders, this is the second case wherein two Canadian exchanges have have exit scams already.

Oh an another exit scam! How unlucky to those einstein exchange users who lost up their coins into that exchange. I dont even hear about that exchange in the first place. This had been always the risk when storing up some coins fully into an exchange which these scammers can exit scam anytime  they like and bagging tens of millions and just simply tell that they dont have the funds to compensate. Those scammers should be burned up to death.