Just In: Spanish Crypto Exchange 2gether Halts Operations, Requests for €20 Mandatory Fee
- 2gether indicated that users must pay the mandatory €20 before it will resume operation, while accounts without the fee will be liquidated
Without prior notice, popular Spanish crypto exchange, 2gether has unexpectedly disconnected users from their account. Adding to the mystery, the exchange also eradicated its online presence by deleting its accounts. The Spanish exchange told customers through a mail that it won’t be able to forge ahead with business owing to the prevailing market dip.
This shocking development, as revealed, affected over 100,000 accounts enveloped on its platform. The cryptocurrency exchange, with this decision, became the first exchange in Spain to shut down. Recall that 2gether had on Wednesday announced intention to impose a mandatory €20 as management fee on its users.
As revealed, the fee was initially expected to take effect from July 10, 2022. Then, the exchange claimed the idea of running a charge-free service is no longer possible. The exchange described how the current market circumstance made it difficult to run free services. While waiting for the aforementioned date, the platform suddenly shut out all accounts enveloped on its network.
2gether Holding Users at Ransome
The news of the shutdown occurred to users in a mail by the crypto exchange. Worthy to note, that this mail didn’t come until after 2gether had shut the accounts. Referencing the mail, the crypto exchange regretted its action to close accounts.
Notably, the crypto exchange has refused to grant users access to their accounts. It has barred them from withdrawing their funds. Despite informing them of the shutdown, 2gether urged users to keep their accounts active.
Additionally, 2gether indicated that users must pay the mandatory €20 before it will resume operation. Furthermore, it says accounts that don’t have up to €20 by the fixed date will be suspended. According to the exchange, such an account will forfeit the less than £20 into liquidation.
The firm stated that the unavailability of resources due to the market situation made it impossible to continue. Though, 2gether conceded that the market situation hasn’t forced other exchanges to close down.
As the first crypto exchange in the country, 2gether’s action came unexpectedly. However, the Association of Financial Users has threatened a lawsuit against the crypto exchange. The group indicated that it will ensure it features in the bankruptcy proceedings.
This isn’t the first time 2gether would hit the news for negative reasons. Recall, that around August 2020, the exchange endured an attack by hackers. The attack claimed about 114 Bitcoins and 276 Ethereum. As at the exchange rate then, the loss amounted to about €1,183 million.
Possibly, the situation is likely to manifest a stern regulation by regulators. Regulators might bank on it to set a distinctive regulatory framework for the cryptocurrency industry in Spain.
The importance of setting regulations for the industry in Spain has been in regular discussion. Last May, the Governor of the Bank of Spain, Hernandez de Coz addressed the importance of regulation. The Governor emphasized that refusing to set regulations for crypto might birth financial crisis.
Rebecca is a Senior Staff Writer at BitcoinWisdom, working hard to bring you the latest breaking news in the cryptocurrency market. In the words of Elon Musk “Buy stock in several companies that make products & services that *you* believe in. Only sell if you think their products & services are trending worse. Don’t panic when the market does. This will serve you well in the long-term.”
