Cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex filed for bankruptcy after allegations from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The company’s liabilities are estimated at $1 billion.
Bittrex filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. It was announced in a press release. The bankruptcy proceedings cover Bittrex, Inc. in Seattle, two Bittrex entities in Malta, and an affiliated entity Desolation Holdings LLC. However, Bittrex Global GmbH, an international exchange organization based in Liechtenstein, wasn’t included in the filing.
In the document, the company stated it had over 100,000 creditors with assets valued between $500 million and $1 billion. The largest creditor in Bittrex’s bankruptcy filing is listed as the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), with $24.2 million in liabilities. Bittrex also owes about $14.5 million to a certain crypto wallet. Besides, the 50 largest creditors of Bittrex included the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) with a claim for $3.5 million, and the SEC is listed with an unspecified amount of claims.
The liabilities of the group of companies caught in bankruptcy proceedings range from $500 million to $1 billion.
The bankruptcy filing was released weeks after Bittrex faced enforcement action from the SEC. The regulator filed four charges of Exchange Act violations against the company, as well as its Co-Founder and former CEO William Shihara. The SEC charges came after Bittrex representatives announced that the company was suspending its U.S. operations due to “continued regulatory uncertainty.”
