It has been a very interesting week for Bitcoin in the price department. The same can’t always be said about the altcoins, as they need a bullish Bitcoin to note any real gains of their own. This week, it became apparent that some of the bigger exchanges will introduce drastic changes. An interesting turn of events, albeit one that won’t harm the industry all that much.
Binance Exits the US
It was a matter of time until a big crypto trading platform decided to leave the United States behind. Despite being a country where there is plenty of Bitcoin and altcoin activity, it is evident the ongoing geo-political tensions make for an uneasy situation. Binance, currently the biggest trading platform in this industry, will bar US users in the next few months.
However, this does not mean the company is abandoning its large US-based community either. A dedicated US-oriented trading platform will be created in the near future. While details are still scarce, it seems to indicate the altcoins will not have too much excitement to push them higher until the dust settles. For now, no major sell-offs are to be expected, albeit one never knows what the coming weeks may bring.
Bittrex Makes More Tokens Inaccessible to US Users
There appears to be a genuine crusade going on against cryptocurrency enthusiasts in the United States. Altcoin traders who frequent the Bittrex platform will see another few dozen tokens become inaccessible to them in less than two weeks from now. This news comes on the heels of 32 other tokens becoming inaccessible more recently.
Among the list of newly mentioned tokens are the likes of Civic, Gnosis, Crypto.com, NXT, TenX, and several others. These assets can still be traded on Bittrex International, but the main platform will no longer provide these pairs to customers in the United States. Most of these tokens were sold through Initial Coin Offerings, which may have something to do with this recent decision.
Limited Availability of Tokens
Based on the information currently available, it seems users will need to look beyond Bittrex (except the International version) and Poloniex to get their trading in. Coinbase only provides exposure to so many tokens and assets, which doesn’t make it the ideal choice. It seems that Kraken, eToro, and Huobi may see a small increase in users, although they too lack support for most tokens.
All of this goes to show things are changing rapidly behind the scenes of the cryptocurrency industry. Only time will tell if these changes are for better or worse, as the opinions remain rather divided on that front. Once Binance’s US-oriented platform comes online, things may look up again. Until then, it seems likely most of the smaller altcoins will see a lot of price fluctuations, either for better or worse.
Disclaimer: This is not trading or investment advice. The above article is for entertainment and education purposes only. Please do your own research before purchasing or investing into any cryptocurrency or digital currency.