What are risks and possible benefits associated with low liquidity? We’ve discussed at length the benefits of higher liquidity and some of the risks of low liquidity, but it’s worth making those risks explicit, as well as mentioning some of the potential benefits of low liquidity for a trader. Fundamentally, lower liquidity leads to less stable prices for an asset, meaning that slippage and price manipulation are risks in low liquidity environments, but also, dips in price can be turned into flash crashes. The lack of market participants can lead to long waiting times, which especially during a market swing …

Two Canadian men who defrauded a Bitcoin (BTC) investor out of $140,000 by impersonating exchange HitBTC may serve two years in prison. According to court records on Dec. 16, brothers Jagroop Singh Khatkar and Karanjit Singh Khatkhar pled guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud over a scam carried out via Twitter in July 2018. HitBTC victim: “I feel sorry for them” The case originally came to light in July this year, as per documents filed with the United States District Court in Portland, Oregon. Posing as the support service for HitBTC, the pair convinced a user, an …

A company providing cloud-based crypto trading software that enables transactions to be completed automatically has unveiled support for another crypto exchange. TradeSanta says its users can now connect to their Huobi accounts. The exchange is one of the world’s biggest in terms of trading volume — and reportedly serves 5 million clients in 130 countries, including the United States. Other leading exchanges including Binance, HitBTC, Bittrex, Upbit and Bitfinex are also supported by TradeSanta — with the likes of BitMEX and OKEx set to be added in the not-too-distant future. According to TradeSanta, there has been growing interest in its …

How can I be informed of what’s happening with my crypto transactions? Some crypto exchanges are aiming to deliver full transparency to their users. This attitude toward openness can be especially beneficial for users who are using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for the first time. HitBTC, which bills itself as one of the most advanced crypto exchanges on the market today, has created a System Monitor that delivers live statistics concerning incoming and outgoing transactions for each of the cryptocurrencies it supports. Processing times for the last 100 transactions are provided — detailing the slowest and fastest execution times as …

Over the past week, the global crypto community bore witness to a unique case wherein California resident and blockchain entrepreneur Seth Shapiro filed a lawsuit against American telecom giant AT&T — alleging that a couple of the firm’s employees had perpetrated a nefarious SIM-swap scheme that resulted in the former losing $1.8 million in various crypto assets. Shapiro, who is a two-time Emmy Award-winner, as well as an author and adjunct professor at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, filed the aforementioned lawsuit against AT&T on Oct. 17, claiming that between May 16, 2018 and May 18, …

Cryptocurrency exchange HitBTC has denied allegations that it froze Brazillian investment startup Atlas Quantum’s funds, claiming the evidence is forged. Atlas Quantum claims HitBTC froze $20.7 million In a Twitter argument which began on Oct. 2, the exchange said it had no record of blocking the accounts of Atlas Quantum. The startup had alleged in a video on Sept. 18 that HitBTC froze 1,862 BTC ($15.3 million) and over $5.4 million in stablecoin Tether (USDT) in its account. HitBTC then responded to the tweet continuing the complaint this week, which Atlas Quantum subsequently deleted. HitBTC: Atlas Quantum “forged” balances Citing …

Two Canadians of Indian origin were charged in the United States with a $233,220 Bitcoin (BTC) fraud using a fake HitBTC account on Twitter. Scammers posed as HitBTC customer service on Twitter Karanjit Singh Khatkar, 23, and Jagroop Singh Khatkar, 24, of Surrey, British Columbia, allegedly stole 23.2 Bitcoin from a woman in the U.S. state of Oregon, Indian publication The Week reports on Aug. 23, citing charges filed with the federal court. According to the report, the defendants used a fraudulent Twitter account named @HitBTCAssist to trick victims into believing they represented customer service from Hong Kong-based crypto exchange …

While it’s possible to buy top cryptocurrencies like bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) in the over-the-counter (OTC) market, most people will need an exchange in order to buy other altcoins. Exchanges are simply an important component of the system that makes the crypto market tick. Regulators around the world have identified this, which is why regulatory moves have primarily targeted exchanges. Regulators want to be sure that exchanges employ the best security practices as well as measures — Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti-Money Laundering (AML), and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT), for instance — that discourage illicit transactions and …

Cryptocurrency exchange HitBTC appealed to the specificity of its cryptography in an ongoing dispute with the team behind altcoin Bitcoin Private (BTCP). The post was published on HitBTC’s blog on Tuesday, March 26. The dispute involves HitBTC’s delisting of the altcoin, whose team then accused the exchange of fraud. HitBTC, currently ranked by CoinMarketCap as the world’s 15th largest exchange by adjusted daily trade volume, claims that the BTCP team had offered an “unsuitable” solution for moving its funds prior to a scheduled coinburn. In the recent blog post — titled “Explanation of the situation with BTCP” — the exchange …

Bitcoin Private (BTCP) developers have accused cryptocurrency exchange HitBTC of acting in a fraudulent manner in regards to their delisting from the exchange following a planned coinburn. The accusations are portrayed in a letter written on Feb. 26 to the exchange by the Petros Law Group on behalf of the BTCP community, developers and contributors, and published by the Bitcoin Private Twitter profile on March 9. According to its authors, the letter — which was published the day BTCP was delisted from HitBTC — alleges that HitBTC attempted to extort BTCP following unresolved complications arising from the coinburn. According to …

The latest Exchange Security Report from independent analysts at ICORating has given 16 percent of the world’s biggest crypto trading platforms an A rating, and none of them an A+. The analysis, published Dec. 18, ranked Kraken (A), Cobinhood (A) and Poloniex (A-) as the top three most secure exchanges globally. ICORating assessed 135 crypto trading platforms, all of whose daily trade value reportedly exceeds $100,000, on the basis of four security categories: user account security, registrar and domain security, web security and DoS attack protection. No exchanges sealed an A+ ratings, two exchanges (representing 1.5 percent) received a solid …

Bitcoin celebrated its 10th birthday on Jan. 3, and in commemoration of this milestone, the very first Proof of Keys event was held. Organized by crypto investor and podcast host Trace Mayer, it urged cryptocurrency traders to withdraw their holdings from crypto exchanges, in order to promote the decentralization and monetary independence on which Satoshi Nakamoto's vision for Bitcoin was founded. However, as ostensibly positive as its message was, it was claimed on social media in the days leading up to the event that several exchanges — most notably HitBTC — had apparently been freezing accounts and preventing users from …