Bittrex Opens the Gates, And Slams Them Shut Again
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After weeks of closed doors, Bittrex finally opened up to new registrants – but couldn’t handle the “overwhelming demand” and had to close again.
Sorry for the inconvenience. Due to an overwhelming response from new users, registration is temporarily paused. We’re working to make the necessary tweaks and reopen signups again shortly.
— Bittrex (@BittrexExchange) April 10, 2018
Registrations were initially paused in December due to high demand during the December bull run, which saw many exchanges suffer server outages as trading volume grew exponentially.
This is the second time that Bittrex, the exchange “designed with security and scalability in mind”, has had to close sign ups because they were unable to handle the demand.
With the ongoing market downturn, the return of Bittrex registrations couldn’t have come at a better time for some. But whether the rush of demand is due to hordes waiting on the sidelines, or limited technical capacity, remains to be seen. During the stall in registrations for Bittrex and Binance earlier this year, accounts on the exchanges were rumoured to have been selling for the price of up to one bitcoin.
This is not the first time that the exchange has faltered – Last December they had to temporarily stop new sign ups when the website hit max capacity. Instead, they added new customers to a waiting list.
Re-opening the Bittrex Exchange
The re-opening of the exchange for new signups yesterday was accompanied by the unveiling of a new interface, and further KYC procedures. New signups must now undergo a series of verification checks before they are eligible to use the exchange. This reflects increasing scrutiny of exchanges by the SEC.
In the announcement on Bittrex, CEO Bill Shihara explained that the initial decision to halt signups was made to ensure the highest standard of service was maintained for existing users. He stated:
We’ve spent the past four years building Bittrex on the founding principles of innovation, security and responsibility. Given these principles, pausing new user signups during a period of immense trading volume was not a decision we took lightly, but our responsibility to provide customers with a reliable platform and outstanding customer service, made it the right thing to do. After diligently working to improve our infrastructure and upgrade our website, we’re pleased to announce registration for new users resumed today.
The company saw tremendous growth in 2017, and expanded from a team of four employees to over fifty. They have also increased the number of support staff to reach almost one hundred representatives.
However, trading volume has been superseded by the behemoth Binance, which also closed registrations in early January. but swiftly reopened them with restrictions in place.
Coinbase also faced the same tidal wave, when the high demand for cryptocurrencies caused their servers to suffer, and their customers to suffer even more.
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