CryptoBridge Shuts Down Citing Stricter Regulatory Climate
CryptoBridge is the latest cryptocurrency exchange to shut down its business amid tightening government regulations and a shrinking altcoin market. Following on from the 2018 bear market, smaller crypto trading platforms are facing increasingly daunting challenges with many forced to cease operations.
CryptoBridge Going Offline on December 15
In a statement issued on its website, CryptoBridge announced its decision to shut down its services. An excerpt from the announcement reads:
“We put in a lot of hard work and did everything in our power to make the outcome different, but market conditions, increasing regulation, inability to fund further development and maintain operations forced us to make a difficult decision: With great regret, we’re announcing that CryptoBridge is shutting down.”
Following the decision to shut down, CryptoBridge customers have until December 15, 2019, to conclude all withdrawals from the exchange. The company also revealed that it will discontinue deposit services on Tuesday (December 3, 2019).
CryptoBridge also informed its users that know your customer (KYC) compliance is necessary to facilitate all withdrawals. As previously reported by BTCManager, the BitShares DEX gateway introduced compulsory KYC verification back in October 2019.
https://twitter.com/CryptoBridgeEU/status/1201407943108890624
According to CryptoBridge, its support staff will be on hand to provide technical assistance to customers during this period. Meanwhile, the decision to shut down its service might only be temporary, based on a tweet published by the company on Monday.
If relaunched, CryptoBridge promises to tweak its KYC compliance policy. According to the tweet, KYC will only be necessary for withdrawals above 2 BTC.
Altcoin Market Crunch to Blame?
The CryptoBridge shut down is the latest in a string of relatively smalled-sized platforms having to close their business. In the past, exchange hacks have been the reason for crypto trading platforms going out of business.
However, the tougher regulatory climate is seeing many small exchanges no longer able to stay afloat. Regulatory agencies in various jurisdictions have upped the ante concerning compliance to stricter governance measures.
South Korea, once a buoyant crypto market is now an example of how tougher regulations can force participants out of the market. In India, many exchanges have either shuttered or moved their platforms to more crypto-friendly climes.
Apart from the increase in regulatory scrutiny, altcoin prices have failed to mount any significant recovery from the massive losses incurred in 2018. According to CoinMarketCap, CryptoBridge had an average daily trading volume of $84,000 despite listing more than 120 trading pairs.
