Poloniex Disables ETH, XRP Wallets as Canadian Regulator Alleges Non-Compliance

Poloniex, one of the world’s earliest and renowned cryptocurrency exchanges, has temporarily disabled the XRP, Tron, Ethereum, and ERC-20 token wallets citing maintenance, which has come against the backdrop of allegations from the Canadian regulator that the cryptocurrency exchange has been functioning in an illegal manner. On May 24, Poloniex stated that their XRP wallet has been deactivated. It didn’t say anything further about what the maintenance entailed.

It activated the XRP wallet on the forthcoming day. It did, nevertheless, deactivate the wallet once more yesterday, notifying the problem on Twitter via its help page. The announcement also clarifies that the wallet would be re-enabled later. Notably, the wallets of Tron (TRX) and TRC20 tokens, Ethereum (ETH) and ERC20 tokens, Polkadot (DOT), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Bytecoin were also briefly suspended for maintenance (BCN).

In accordance with the broader market trend, XRP has suffered a modest drop in the last 24 hours. At time of writing, it was trading at $0.8999, up almost 3.6%. It hit a peak of $0.9282 and a low of $0.8644 during the day. The trade volume has also decreased, falling 13 percent to $4.705 billion. Maintenance concerns aren’t the only negative development related to Poloniex. According to the Ontario Securities Commission, the exchange has been functioning unlawfully.

The OSC stated in a summary of charges that it wanted to make Polo Digital Assets responsible for “disregarding Ontario securities legislation and demonstrate that crypto-asset trading platforms violating Ontario securities legislation would face enforcement action.” Poloniex is susceptible to Ontario securities rules since it provides securities and derivatives, according to the commission.

The regulator claimed that it has been emphasizing such platforms registration for some time, most recently on March 29, 2021. It allowed the platforms three weeks to get a permit or risk legislative action at the moment.

“Inspite of the warning, Poloniex failed to engage the Commission by April 19, 2021, or at any time thereafter, to initiate adherence talks.” Poloniex holds a Seychelles license. The OSC expects the exchange to stop providing services to Ontario citizens promptly and also make a settlement for non-adherence of rules. Poloniex is also expected to pay an administrative penalty of up to CAD 1 million (US$ 830,000). The regulator is also demanding costs of the inquiry and hearing.