Bitfinex Suspends Fiat Deposits
The world’s fourth biggest cryptocurrency exchange in terms of trading volume, Bitfinex, has reportedly suspended fiat deposits for the time being.
Multiple Fiat Deposits Suspended
Users have been going to social media to report that wire deposits for the Euro (EUR), US Dollar (USD), Japanese Yen (JPY) and the British Pound (GBP) have been temporarily paused by the British Virgin Islands-based, Hong Kong-operated crypto exchange. The good news is that according to the information from customers’ accounts, these services are expected to resume within a week.
Bad Timing and Rumors
According to anonymous sources, the Puerto Rican Noble Bank International is reportedly facing financial problems and is now looking for a buyer. These sources also stated that two of the bank’s top clients, Bitfinex and Tether, are looking for a buyout and this is why the exchange is facing these issues.
However, when this news was made public, Bitfinex responded sharply that the rumors about an “entity” called Noble Bank did not have any impact on the exchange’s operations, solvency or even survivability.
Things only got worse, with rumors now surfacing that the cryptocurrency exchange was actually bankrupt. Once again, Bitfinex responded promptly to these rumors.
The company stated that they were not insolvent and that a steady stream of articles from the online site, Medium, stating that they were was not going to change that fact. Bitfinex also stated that it was one of the few exchanges that had been in operation since 2013 with a small team and very low operating costs. Therefore, the exchange did not understand why there would be rumors regarding their insolvency without any supporting data or evidence.
With regard to having to temporarily suspend fiat deposits, the exchange said that it was facing continued complications in relation to fiat transactions. However, Bitfinex made it clear that these problems were being faced by all crypto organizations and weren’t specific to their company.
New Banking Relationships
In line with these rumors are another set of rumors that Bitfinex has tied with one of the biggest banking and financial services organizations globally, HSBC. Rumors also stated that the exchange is banking with HSBC using a private account that is registered under the name of Global Trading Solutions. Bitfinex has, strangely enough, not responded to these rumors, except to reiterate that Noble Bank’s problems do not affect them in any way.
Bitfinex has been trying to tie up with a major bank since April 2017, but has not been successful so far. However, the exchange had approached Wells Fargo & Co. in the US, however, the bank reportedly denied the crypto exchange its services.