Cryptocurrency futures broker 1Broker was recently shut down by U.S. regulators. Both the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) went after the company for allowing U.S. investors to trade on the platform in violation of current laws.
The closure of the company left an unknown number of U.S. investors in a bad position, as they haven’t had access to their funds. 1Broker is currently working to resolve the issue and has announced that it will allow U.S. customers to have a “window” into its world while the company seeks clarity.
The company hopes to have a “read-only” version of the site up and running. This will allow users to see their balances and transaction histories, but not allow them to make any trades or withdrawals.
We are currently engaging U. S. counsel who can represent us in the SEC/CFTC case. We expect that this takes a few days.
We received the green light from our lawyers to set up a read-only version 1Broker to view balances and transaction history. ETA: 48 hours
— 1Broker (@1Brokerio) October 1, 2018
According to 1Broker, “Currently, our top priority is to allow customer withdrawals. The company holds enough funds to cover all withdrawal requests, of course. Before we can take the required steps to do that, we have to seek permission from the authorities.”
1Broker is run by Marshall Islands-based 1Pool. All information related to the ban is being channeled through the 1Pool.ltd website, since 1Broker’s site has been seized by regulators. 1Pool explains on its site, “On September 28th 2018, our domain 1broker.com was closed by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This means that the trading panel is not accessible anymore – funds, servers and databases are not affected. Currently, our top priority is to allow customer withdrawals. The company holds enough funds to cover all withdrawal requests, of course. Before we can take the required steps to do that, we have to seek permission from the authorities. During this whole process, we are supported by our lawyers and we will regularly post updates here.”
In an email to CoinDesk, 1Pool CEO Patrick Brunner stated that the company is working as quickly as possible to be able to allow users to withdraw their funds. He added, “Unfortunately, such matters take some time – from our point of view, we are ready to process withdrawals right now.”
New to blockchain? Check out CoinGeek’s Blockchain for Beginners section, the ultimate resource guide to learn more about blockchain technology.
