I haven't really been able to keep as up to date as I would have liked with crypto developments in the last year or so... moving to a new country, and being swamped with family commitments, and then launching and running a music ensemble.... well, all of that means that everything else can take a back seat for a little bit. And that has generally meant that I've not really had the time or desire to follow every last crypto news and launch. Plus, there are now so many scams around these days that I hesitate to investigate each lead... even legitimate accounts and websites get hacked, and I even managed to get scammed once for a small amount after a crypto Discord server got compromised.
Anyway, this little bit of news really did catch me off-guard though... it was an email landing in my inbox saying that my customer relationship with Bittrex had been terminated and that I was limited to withdrawals only. Well, I figured that wasn't really anything that big... I had been ignoring the emails for KYC verification for a while, and I figured that this was the result of that.
So, I figured that I would just look at it when I got home and deal with the annoyance of KYC then. I hadn't really used Bittrex that much in the past few years... it had been one of my early exchanges, but I lost interest in it after I shifted mostly to Binance and DeFi.
So, when I logged into my account... I was greeted with this banner! Huh... really, Bittrex is winding down? One of the older exchanges is calling it a day? I wonder if it is due to financial problems, or if it is more to do with the pretty abysmal regulatory and enforcement atmosphere in the United States. I would hazard a guess that is more the latter... after all, we aren't in the depths of a bear market anymore?
... and it turns out that all trading was suspended a while back as well. I probably should follow this sort of thing a bit more closely. I'm pretty sure that all of this was announced with a fair bit of lead time.
... and my suspicions about my balances on Bittrex were right. Around the time of the FTX collapse, I had tightened up my balances on any exchanges that I felt were at risk... and mostly moving out into non-custodial wallets. It was a pretty haphazard and fast exodus, but it was neccesary at the time. Some of it proved to be good, and other things proved to be a bit hasty as the exchanges turned out okay and their tokens shot up in the last months.
So... just a few dollars were left after that purge, 5 cents in regular USD and a tiny balance in FLO. I remember now that FLO was the only token that I couldn't easily liquidate and/or move when I last visited Bittrex.
... and I guess this was the reason! No other CEXs trading... and non-custodial wallets were a bit sketchy, or unknown at best.
It is sort of sad that Bittrex is down and out for good... it was one of the nicer places but perhaps I'm reliving the past with rose-tinted glasses. Most interestingly it was one of the only CEXs that took in HBD as well!
Ah well... there are still a couple of good old exchanges that I used in the past that are still standing. All of them with fond memories, but some with newer owners that have tarnished their reputations.
I can also be found cross-posting at:
Hive
Steem
Publish0x
Handy Crypto Tools
Ledger Nano S/X: Keep your crypto safe and offline with the leading hardware wallet provider. Not your keys, not your crypto!
Binance: My first choice of centralised exchange, featuring a wide variety of crypto and savings products.
WooX: The centralised version of WooFi. Stake WOO for fee-free trades and free withdrawals! This link also gives you back 25% of the commission.
GMX.io: Decentralised perpetual futures trading on Arbitrum!
Coinbase: If you need a regulated and safe environment to trade, this is the first exchange for most newcomers!
Crypto.com: Mixed feelings, but they have the BEST looking VISA debit card in existence! Seriously, it is beautiful!
CoinList: Access to early investor and crowdsale of vetted and reserached projects.
Cointracking: Automated or manual tracking of crypto for accounting and taxation reports.
KuCoin: I still use this exchange to take part in the Spotlight and Burning Drop launches.
