According to reports in Mining Mag and the Financial Times, BlockFills has suspended withdrawals and restricted trading on its platform amid sharp, mostly downside volatility in the cryptocurrency market.
Chicago-based Blockfils, which is backed in part by market-making giant Susquehanna Investment Group, had $60 billion in trading volume last year, the FT reported.
“In light of recent market and financial conditions and to better protect our customers and the company, Blockfils took steps last week to temporarily suspend deposits and withdrawals for our customers,” a spokesperson told the paper.
“Customers were able to continue trading with BlockFills for the purpose of opening and closing positions in spot trades, derivatives trades, and in other selected situations,” the spokesperson said.
BlockFills’ move comes as a months-long decline in crypto prices accelerated into a full-fledged collapse last week. Bitcoin BTC$66,944.44 After falling to $60,000, it has bounced back to its current $67,000 level, but is still down about 50% from its all-time high last October.
This move is reminiscent of the crypto winter of 2022, when many platforms were forced to suspend withdrawals as the bear market deepened, and many eventually collapsed.
