[NEWS] Cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex files for bankruptcy in Delaware

On the 8th, cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex announced that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a federal court in Delaware, USA.

Both assets and liabilities are between $500 million (approximately 67.5 billion yen) and $1 billion (approximately 135 billion yen), and there are more than 100,000 creditors.

At the same time, affiliates Desolation Holdings LLC, Bittrex Malta and Bittrex Malta Holdings also filed for bankruptcy.

Regarding this bankruptcy, Bittrex stated, "We announced that we would cease all operations in the United States on April 30, but today we have decided to file for Chapter 11 in a federal court in Delaware. We plan to ask the bankruptcy court to activate accounts so that customers can withdraw their assets."

However, Bittrex stated that Chapter 11 is only for the United States and that it will not affect Bittrex Global. They said they will continue to release information as it becomes available, and urged customers to continue checking their website and emails.

Bittrex's US subsidiary laid off 80 employees in February and said it would end all operations on April 30, but said that funds for customers who had not withdrawn funds by that date were being kept "safe." The bankruptcy court will decide how to claim and distribute customer funds in the future.

Bittrex's bankruptcy filing came one month after it was sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for allegedly violating federal law.

The SEC filed a lawsuit against Bittrex and its former CEO, William Shihara, in mid-April. The lawsuit alleges that Bittrex offered securities trading to U.S. investors without registering its business.

Bittrex has indicated it will fight the lawsuit in court, arguing that the SEC has not issued any warnings or notices about securities law violations over the past five years.

According to Bloomberg, creditors include the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

Bittrex owes $25 million to OFAC as part of a settlement reached by the two parties in October last year. OFAC has fined Bittrex millions of dollars for alleged violations of multiple sanctions programs, including the Bank Secrecy Act's (BSA) anti-money laundering (AML) reporting requirements.

Source:Bittrex
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