Sea of red as Coincheck halts withdrawals and trading!

[marketmaven1]

Coincheck, a Japanese crypto exchange, just suspended all withdrawals, halted trading in all tokens except Bitcoin and stopped deposits into NEM coins. They said this in a series of tweets. The exchange is not available for comments at this time, according to Bloomberg. Something strange is going on here. Are they hacked? Are regulators stepping in?

It all started 6h ago.

• Depositing NEM on Coincheck is currently being restricted.

• We are also currently halting sales and purchases of NEM. Again, please accept our sincere apologies for this inconvenience.

• We are currently halting deposits, withdrawals, buying and selling of NEM. Please accept our sincere apologies for this inconvenience and rest assured that we are working to resolve this issue as quickly as possible.

• All withdrawals from the platform are currently restricted, including JPY. Thank you for your understanding.

• Purchases and sales of cryptocurrencies other than BTC (altcoins) are currently restricted. Please accept our apologies for this inconvenience.

Top 20 market cap

Crypto's are taking a hit this morning. There isn't a trading ban on bitcoin but depsite that bitcoin is down 6%. Ripple sinks 11% and NEM, the 10th-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, falls 15%.

Steem

Steem drops 15%.

Comments

[op8282]

This are the biggest risks in the market

[marketmaven1]

Correct! I just did some more digging and they don't have a Japanese licence apparently.

In Japan, where the Mt. Gox exchange collapsed after a theft in 2014, policy makers have introduced a licensing system to increase oversight of local cryptocurrency venues. Coincheck has yet to receive a license, according to the website of Japan’s financial regulator.

People need to be picky when they choose an exchange...