Ray Youssef, the chief executive of Paxful Bitcoin exchange, announced the indefinite suspension of the marketplace on Tuesday, citing regulatory challenges and staff departures.
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Fast facts
- All customer funds are accounted for, and safeguarding client assets is the exchange’s priority, Youssef said. He also encouraged customers to withdraw and self-custody their assets.
- Youssef added that the exchange’s regulatory challenges mostly came from the U.S.
- Paxful joins a growing list of cryptocurrency exchanges closing shop due to legal hurdles in the U.S.
- Last Friday, Bittrex, a Seattle-based crypto exchange, announced that it is winding down to close its U.S. operations, citing regulatory challenges.
- Beaxy, another U.S.-based platform, was shut down by the Securities and Exchange Commission for operating an unregistered exchange.
- U.S. regulators have been intensifying their crackdown on the industry recently. Last week, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, for violating compliance rules.
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