There are probably 100 reasons why a cryptocurrency exchange may shut down, the most probable one is usually a serious hack or weak “link” somewhere. Another reason is simply stolen funds. However, the Polish crypto exchange Bitmarket has shut down because of lack of liquidity.
The exchange started operating in 2014. It has just announced that due to loss of liquidity the exchange is being shut down. No other explanation is given at this point. The most obvious question, however, is: What will happen to the funds locked in the exchange?
This is the message on the exchange’s website regarding the halt of operations:
Dear Users, we regret to inform you that due to the loss of liquidity, since 08/07/2019, Bitmarket.pl/net was forced to cease its operations. We will inform you about further steps.
The statement is quite vague and has already sent shock waves around the crypto community that has funds in Bitmarket. According to a post from CCN, there are a lot of conspiracy theories as to what might have happened to the exchange.
One user even went to tell that the exchange made account users make a lot of changes to their accounts, including changing passwords and API keys without much explanation. Also, it appears that the level of verification of accounts was not advanced and did not meet the expected standards of users.