Key
facts:
- The exchange house does not offer details about the reasons for the decision.
- The measure is presumed to comply with the sanctions imposed by the US to the Venezuelan regime.
The
Bittrex cryptocurrency exchange house, based in Seattle, Washington, informed
its platform users registered in Venezuela that it will stop providing its
services for the residents of that country. The startup sent the notification
via email this Friday, October 18.
Through
the communication, which does not provide details about the reasons for the
decision, the US exchange is limited to informing those affected, that within a
peremptory period of about 11 days, their accounts will be blocked. It also
warns that they have the opportunity until next Tuesday, October 29 to withdraw
all of their funds from the platform.
With
this decision, which is presented without a specific explanation by Bittrex,
the company joins a group of companies that have suspended operations in
Venezuela this year. Most of them allude to sanctions against the Venezuelan
regime, derived from the executive order issued by the US presidency, On August
5, 2019.
Earlier
this month, Adobe Systems Incorporated, also based in the United States,
announced the cancellation of accounts to residents in Venezuelan territory.
However, the suspension of services is not limited to US companies, as the
British company Transferwise joined those who withdraw from Venezuela for US
sanctions. In that sense, he also informed that he will stop operating on
October 28 in the South American country.
Bittrex
is considered one of the most popular cryptocurrency exchange houses among
crypto-merchants. At the moment, it is unknown if other cryptocurrency exchange
platforms will choose to apply similar measures, which would directly affect
Venezuelan traders.
On the
Twitter social network, several users have spoken out in rejection of the
indiscriminate form of closing accounts by Bittrex. The consultant Jhonnatan
Morales, co-founder and partner of Pandora Investments, published a thread of
tweets expressing his disagreement with Bittrex's poor explanation about the
closure of his account.
"For
some reason @BittrexExchange carries out verification processes, to know if the
person who is accessing their services is not sanctioned by OFAC, Interpol or
has links to terrorism or other illegal activities", said the consultant.
For its
part, the Innova Consultant account, referred to the closure of accounts to
residents in Venezuela, as a questionable process in terms of transparency and
selection of criteria. "Although the sanctions have been directed at
specific people, American companies have decided not to apply filters", says one of the company's tweets.
SOURCE: Criptonoticias
