Bittrex made an official announcement on their support site to quell the recent furore caused by scores of reported account suspensions. The statement read –

We would like to address recent reports regarding Bittrex account suspensions.

We occasionally conduct compliance reviews and are working vigilantly to protect our service and our users from harm. As part of a compliance review, we have temporarily suspended certain accounts pending the completion of the review. The total number of suspended, closed, or banned accounts is very limited: less than 0.1% of the total accounts.  More than 99.9% of Bittrex accounts are unaffected.

Any reports that we miscalculated or misapplied its exchange fees, that there is a security problem with the exchange, that we lost any coins stored on users’ behalf, or that Bittrex is banning people trying to access Slack to discuss the status of their accounts are incorrect.  We are committed to making Bittrex a strong, safe, and compliant exchange where people can securely participate in the digital currency economy.  We ask for patience from our highly valued customers.  As for us, we plan to “keep calm, and carry on.”

Our take – Bittrex, good to know. But..

Now that we know it wasn’t a hack, we can safely say that they botched this audit. Whatever the number of suspended accounts, the lack of intimation to the suspended account holders is completely uncalled for. If it is a regular audit, at least have some kind of canned response to put people at ease. Plus the delay to come out with this statement didn’t help one bit.

We can confirm that their Slack channel was inaccessible for those of us who wanted answers.

It’s good to know that this isn’t another Mt.Gox, but come on guys! Many of the account holders had a considerable amount of money stored. Some even called it their life savings and were contemplating ending their lives. Not denying you did what you had to do. But, you should have handled this with more sensitivity.

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Hitesh Malviya

Hitesh Malviya is the Founder of ItsBlockchain. He is one of the most early adopters of blockchain & cryptocurrency enthusiast in India. After being into space for a few years, he started IBC in 2016 to help other early adopters learn about the technology.
Before IBC, Hitesh has founded 4 companies in the cyber security & IT space.