Crypto.com to suspend US institutional exchange

Crypto.com said Friday that it will shut down its institutional exchange service for US customers in less than two weeks, saying demand is drying up.

In a statement provided to Blockworks, Crypto.com explained that there is a lack of demand due to the market landscape in the US — no doubt a reference to the lawsuits against fellow exchanges Binance and Coinbase. 

Read more: Crypto firms beefing up legal support amid regulatory crackdown

“We recently made a business decision to suspend the institutional offering of the Crypto.com Exchange in the U.S. as of 11:59pm EDT June 21, 2023 due to limited demand from institutions in the U.S. in the current market landscape. Impacted institutional users were given advance notice to support a smooth transition,” the statement said. 

Crypto.com also stressed that this closure does not affect its retail trading app, which includes its CFTC-regulated crypto derivatives product, UpDown Options. 

The Singapore-based crypto exchange added that it could reopen the institutional trading platform in the future, though it declined to provide more details on what conditions would need to be met to open its doors again.

Crypto.com started the month of June with a win, announcing that it had received a license for digital payment token services in Singapore, allowing the exchange to offer its services in the country.

Blockworks previously reported that the head of product for Crypto.com, Abhi Bisarya, believes that AI will be “game-changing” for crypto exchanges.

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