Cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex filed for bankruptcy protection three weeks after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused it of operating an unregistered securities exchange for years.
On May 8, the crypto firm made the filing in a Wilmington, Delaware, court after announcing in March that it would wind down operations in the United States by the end of April.
Court filings also show that related entities Desolation Holdings LLC, Bittrex Malta Holdings Ltd., and Bittrex Malta Ltd. had also filed for bankruptcy.
The exchange’s U.S. branch had already laid off 83 employees in February.
Bittrex was the latest crypto exchange to file for bankruptcy, joining FTX and other rivals like Celsius, Voyager, and BlockFi.
Several companies in the crypto industry have filed for bankruptcy over the past year, led by falling asset prices, increased regulatory crackdowns, and criminal charges in the case of the failed crypto exchange giant FTX.
Despite the impending shutdown of its American operations, the SEC decided to sue Bittrex in federal court in mid-April for allegedly violating regulations from 2017 through 2022, which was immediately denied at the time.
Read more: US Crypto Exchange Bittrex Seeks Bankruptcy After SEC Complaint
