Bittrex exchange will reportedly blacklist about seven countries including Ukraine in the next two weeks. Crypto traders and investors from these countries will no longer be able to access digital currency services offered on the exchange. Cryptocurrency accounts belonging to the residents will also be closed automatically after the said period.
Bittrex blocks access to Ukraine and Belarus
The United States-based digital currency trading platform, Bittrex made this known to the existing customers in a notification today, as Finance Magnates reported. The countries to be blacklisted by Bittrex exchange include Belarus, Ukraine, Panama, Burundi, Myanmar, Mali, and Nicaragua. The exchange briefed on the reason behind this decision, stating:
“For regulatory reasons, we, unfortunately, have to inform you that we are no longer able to provide services to customers who are residents of certain jurisdictions.”
Bittrex exchange further warned its cryptocurrency users from the aforementioned countries to clear-off their holdings from the platform within the next two weeks. At the moment, these people cannot deposit into their accounts, as the exchange noted that it has already stopped fiat currency deposits.
“After that time, we will need to disable any remaining accounts,” Bittrex added.
Noteworthily, this is not the first time Bittrex exchange blacklisted a country. For the same reason, the exchange terminated its services for customers in 31 countries as of October, last year. Most of the countries were in Africa, such as Egypt, Ghana, Uganda, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, including Venezuelan, Lebanon, etc.
Bittrex exchange delists a country with a high crypto adoption rate
Meanwhile, the decision of Bittrex exchange to close support for Ukraine customers comes a few days after the country was named the top jurisdiction with the highest crypto adoption rate. As Cryptopolitan reported on September 9, Ukraine ranked number one in the data published by the blockchain analytics company, Chainalysis.
Venezuela, which was also blacklisted by Bittrex ranked second on the list. Meanwhile, the United States sat in the sixth position.
