So, I see a ton of great responses here and I'll try to answer them as best as I can or am able to-
This is not a full delisting of Hive, but it is a delisting of a single fiat pair- so I think some people have missed that this is not an overall removal of $HIVE. The easiest way to sort of look at this is that US citizens are being blocked out of Bittrex (so are Canadians), so the most likely people who would actually care at all about the USD pair are basically completely unable to access or use it. It's not really a surprise that the volume for that particular pairing is winding down. It's not necessarily a reflection on Hive as much as it is a culling of resources that aren't as necessary on a group of tokens given that they need to streamline a bit. It's also not just a "delisting" of the entire coin, so that's also good.
It is also fair to say that yeah, Bittrex has definitely seen some slowing as other global options are working hard to take a slice of the pie and be more flexible in their offerings. I've asked them if they'd like to do some co-marketing, so we'll see if they've got any life in them yet. That being said... you know, anytime things like this happen- especially when paired with the fact that Bittrex US (not global) was targeted with a $20+ million dollar fine by the SEC and then basically shuttered, it's always good to practice moving your coins around and taking a better look at self custody options. (Not trading? Get your money off exchanges. No excuses.)
I've also seen some comments by Alex and others talking about wishing for more CEXs and fiat pairings, and there's no doubt that that would be nice, as much as DEXs will be the future and match our ideologies better. Absolutely. I work on this almost full time. Where we're at largely is that what's left is either newbie exchanges who need to establish security and trust, and of course, the big US entities. While I'm actively working on a few new listings at any given time, we are very much at a detriment because we have no team, no founder, no company and no foundation. In the US, those are almost exclusively required to move forward with any listing process.
What it usually looks like is first of all finding the real reps, building a relationship with them and going through the painstaking negotiation process of coming to an agreement that we will not pay a listing fee (this is often anywhere from $15k to half a million dollars, depending) and we will not use a shady market maker. Exchanges often rely on all these things to defray the costs and liability of taking on stupid shitty scam coins while still getting a big payout up front and reaping the benefits of a listing pump and then rug dump. Hive isn't like that, which is great, but also means we don't fit the mold that the CEX business models have come to require. It's slowly changing, and I'm working hard on finding ways forward, but it's just so so much harder than if we had a doxxed team who were willing to sign their lives away.
At current, I'm working on some options for legal opinions from the US and other trusted jurisdictions that will help me when working with these types of negotiations. They're not a guarantee for listing, as the biggest players (Kraken, Coinbase, etc) are obviously fully at the whims of the SEC and have strict team and KYC policies that go alongside their listing requirements. Since there is no one in charge of Hive and no one with ownership or a foundation that is a legally bound entity, we have to be so incredibly careful how we enter into legal engagements, as well as how we present our coin. With the recent ruling of Tornado Cash, there is now US precedent that anyone holding a coin could be considered part of an "unregulated association", which is not super cool, lol.
TL;DR- we are at work on so much when it comes to the US in terms of trying to find fiat ramps, CEXs and also legal protection and endorsement of the chain while also not legally binding any individual- it's not a lack of effort, but rather a bit of a slog through the north american listing landscape that hopefully we can start making some headway on soon.
Hi thanks for the very detailed response, very informative!
I hear what you're saying about exchange listings it sounds like a tricky business and it's useful to know as this behind the scenes legal stuff is something we don't often get an insight into!
It's a tricky one with CEXs and DEXs - the former aren't great I know, but in terms of ramping to FIAT well I don't know of a DEX that does that and making that leap to a pure crypto lifestyle, that's impossible for most people!
I could have been clearer about the whole sad Bittrex context and it not just being Hive, that's something I guess so thanks for the clarification there!
Hope life is good! Saw yer vid on digital identity, great stuff!