In a Tuesday announcement, Bitstamp exchange communicated to its US-based customers plans to cease the trading of several major altcoins on its platform.
The permanent suspension set to come into effect on Aug 29 will affect more than half a dozen tokens including native tokens for Polygon (MATIC), Solana (SOL), and Near Protocol (NEAR). Others include Chiliz’ CHZ, the native tokens for non-fungible token (NFT) video game Axie Infinity as well as tokens for the metaverse projects Decentraland (MANA) and Sandbox (SAND).
“To ensure a smooth transition during the trade halt, we kindly request our users to promptly execute any desired buy or sell orders involving the affected assets before August 29, 2023. After this deadline, trading activities related to the tokens will be permanently disabled on the Bitstamp platform,” Bitstamp advised in the Aug 8 announcement.
Though users will not be able to execute trades involving the affected tokens beyond the specified date, the exchange clarified that they will still be able to hold and withdraw affected tokens.
Regulatory pressure on trading platforms in the US
In June, several trading platforms including Robinhood and eToro announced that they will delist ADA, MATIC, SOL in the US after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) determined that the tokens among others are unregistered securities in separate lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase.
“At Bitstamp, we have a comprehensive framework in place to continuously evaluate the cryptocurrencies we provide, taking into account the dynamic regulatory environment. Considering recent developments, we are making some changes to our crypto offerings—specifically for our customers residing in the United States,” the exchange team conveyed.
Bitstamp’s decision to disable trading of the tokens comes less than a day since London-headquartered neobank and fintech outfit Revolut said it will pull the plug on its US operations in October citing lack of regulatory clarity.
Expansion into Asia and Europe
Bitstamp is one of the oldest cryptocurrency exchanges having been founded more than a decade ago. The Luxembourg-headquartered exchange was reported to be in plans to raise capital to fund its plan to expand into Asia and European markets earlier this week.
“Our current and exclusive priority is to raise money through strategic investors to accelerate Bitstamp’s growth by providing new products and services to retail and institutional crypto customers.” CEO, Jean-Baptiste Graftieaux, told Bloomberg.
Part of the funds raised from the funding round which began in late June per sources cited by Bloomberg will specifically be used to launch derivatives trading in Europe early next year.
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