U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex is cleaning house. It is removing a long list of trading pairs that have been underperforming, hoping to spark more interest, and less confusion, in crypto-to-crypto activity. 23 pairs are to be removed, including some linked to Litecoin, Ether, Tether and DASH, with their delisting to occur as of today.
Poloniex announced the decision in a tweet yesterday, stating, “We will be removing 23 trading pairs on August 16, 2019, due to low volume. Note that each asset will continue to be independently tradable.” A subsequent tweet listed the trading pairs to be deleted, which include, “LTC/XMR, DASH/XMR, ZEC/XMR, MAID/XMR, NXT/XMR, BCN/XMR, LSK/ETH, GNT/ETH, MANA/ETH, QTUM/ETH, STEEM/ETH, OMG/ETH, LOOM/ETH, SNT/ETH, CVC/ETH, KNC/ETH, GAS/ETH, BNT/ETH, LOOM/USDT, SNT/USDT, KNC/USDT, BNT/USDT, FOAM/USDC.”
The U.S.-based exchange had to remove certain digital currencies from the exchange already this year. This past May, it disabled nine projects only in the U.S., ostensibly due to the uncertainty regarding how the crypto industry is regulated in the country. It said at the time that the decision was because it “not possible to be certain whether U.S. regulators [would] consider these assets to be securities.”
After those currencies – Ardor (ARDR), Bytecoin (BCN), Decred (DCR), GameCredits (GAME), Gas (GAS), Lisk (LSK), Nxt (NXT), Omni Layer (OMNI) and Augur (REP) – were removed, all of them suffered declines in trading values that ranged anywhere from 13% to 22%.
The move comes only days after the exchange announced that it would waive trading fees to help investors recover losses of around $18 million in Bitcoin Core (BTC). A flash crash on the platform in May led to the losses and Poloniex is crediting certain users with no fees until their losses are recuperated. Now, if traders want to recuperate their losses, they’ll be forced to trade in a slightly smaller pool of options, which could boost those options’ values.
It could also be a way for the exchange to avoid any additional hemorrhaging. In addition to the flash crashes and the removal of margin trading for some customers, the recent crypto market declines have almost certainly hurt its bottom line, as well. By removing the trading pairs, it can shore up operations, reduce expenses (albeit not by a considerable amount) and try to weather the storm.
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