Crypto exchange;Bittrex has filed;for;Chapter 11 bankruptcy;protection in the U.S., nearly one month after it announced that it would gradually halt its operations in the country. In the bankruptcy filing, the company reported more than 100,000 creditors.
The firm also said it had assets and liabilities within the $500M to $1B range separately.
- The;bankruptcy;filing concerns the firm's Seattle-based entity, two entities in Malta, and an affiliated entity dubbed Desolation Holdings LLC.
- The exchange's Liechtenstein-based global entity, Bittrex Global GmbH, was excluded from the bankruptcy process, and the company said it does not plan to halt its global operations.
- The move;came shortly after;the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against the exchange over the violation of U.S. investor protection laws by running as an exchange, broker-dealer, and clearinghouse at the same time without registration.
- The lawsuit also named former;CEO;Bill Shihara and Bittrex Global GmbH as defendants.
- Before the SEC's lawsuit, the exchange had to lay off 83 employees in February by citing the crypto market downturn;and decided to halt its operations in the U.S. by the end of April due to the current regulatory environment.
With the bankruptcy filing, Bittrex joined other crypto-related firms, including FTX, BlockFi, Celsius, and Voyager Digital, going bankrupt within the last months following the collapses of high-profile crypto projects and a prolonged crypto winter.