The beleaguered crypto exchange Bittrex filed for bankruptcy in the US state of Delaware on Monday. Bittrex is one of the oldest crypto exchanges in the United States, having decided in April to discontinue services for US customers and two weeks later also Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) got on his roof. To be precise, the platform has a so-called Chapter 11 filed for bankruptcy meaning it will undergo financial restructuring under the supervision of a federal court.
Bittrex is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Bittrex was founded in 2014 and is therefore a very established name within the crypto industry. In the May 8 filing in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, estimated Bittrex said it had more than 100,000 creditors, between $500 million and $1 billion in assets and between $500 million and $1 billion in liabilities.
The American crypto exchange appeared in the crypto news in early April after announcing that it would stop its operations for residents of the United States. The crypto regulation in the country made it impossible to remain competitive.
Two weeks later, news broke that the crypto exchange was the SEC’s next target. The US financial watchdog has targeted various companies in the sector in recent months and has already sued numerous exchanges, while providing clear guidance seems too much to ask. The SEC’s approach has been widely criticized and amazes the crypto community. The US-listed crypto exchange Coinbase has even started the counterattack and has filed suit against the regulator.
The SEC also sued former Bittrex CEO Bill Shihara and Bittrex Global. Oliver Linch, the CEO of Bitrex Global, said last month that the exchange planned to challenge these charges in court, but bankruptcy proceedings could make this more difficult.
Laundry list of bankruptcies is getting bigger
Bittrex’s bankruptcy expands the laundry list of failed entities within the crypto world. It joins other big names like Celsius, Voyager, BlockFi, FTX and Genesis.