That the ongoing bear market in the crypto industry is affecting all projects and companies should no longer be a secret. Venture capitalists are becoming more cautious Mining is no longer viable for many, prices are falling and new investors are reluctant to enter the cryptocurrency market. Additionally, traders are not as active as they were in 2017 and early 2018, leaving some exchanges with liquidity issues in the dust. The aggressive actions taken by governments and regulators in connection with the bear market are forcing some exchanges to either restructure or even completely close their business.
Binance, Kraken and BitMEX
Recently, there have been rumors about the possible closure of Binance, Kraken and BitMEX. They are popular and well established crypto exchanges. Despite the fact that the companies did face some problems, they have now been able to solve them through various measures, including restructuring. For example, on September 7, 2018, Kraken announced that it would fire 57 people. Shortly thereafter, there was talk on the Internet about security concerns and a possible Kraken shutdown. The company later made it clear that there were no safety issues or decommissioning plans, and the layoffs were just cost cuts. The SEC and CTFC have announced they will bring charges against securities broker 1Broker for violating federal law in connection with Bitcoin-funded securities exchanges. Finally, 1Broker was down, and many Binance and BitMEX customers were worried about whether the same would happen with these two exchanges. Because of this potential complication, companies began to deny Americans access to their services.
Zebpay
The government of India together with RBI (Central Bank of India) imposed a crypto-prohibition on both companies and individuals. Due to the fact that banks were banned from doing business with cryptocurrency companies, the largest crypto-exchange in India, Zebpay, was also forced to temporarily cease operations. In a statement from 28 September 2018, Zebpay wrote:
“Today (28.09.2018 in 16.00) we will cancel all outstanding transactions between cryptocurrencies and return the assets back to the Zebpay wallet. Currently, new orders are not accepted. "
Zebpay, however, did not stop the activity and is currently working on new opportunities to launch again.
Liqui.io
Ukrainian cryptobirge Liqui told 28 in January that it can no longer offer services to its clients. In the past, there was some controversy about the exchange. Liqui blamed the bear market and the associated liquidity problems in temporarily ceasing business. The lack of liquidity is due to the fact that many investors who entered cryptocurrency at their peak left the market. Since few investors and traders want to trade on small exchanges with a small volume, they give way to large cryptobirds such as Binance and Kraken. Liqui plans to re-enter the cryptocurrency after solving these problems.
During the bullish movement in 2017, many new exchanges appeared. During a bear market and despite liquidity problems, very few survive. Judging by the current market situation, many exchanges will not survive the ongoing crisis. The exchanges play a central role in the cryptoecosystem. Anyone who has a cryptocurrency can exchange it for fiat money for a crypto-exchange and, thus, indirectly buy all the goods in the world. Since most stores currently do not accept cryptocurrency as a means of payment, the exchange, up to the full adoption of the latter, is very important.