Liquid Global Halts Withdrawals as FTX Contagion Continues

Cryptocurrency exchange Liquid Global today said it is halting all withdrawals—both fiat and crypto—from the platform.

“Fiat and crypto withdrawals have been suspended on Liquid Global in compliance with the requirements of voluntary Chapter 11 proceedings in the United States,” the exchange stated on Twitter.

Liquid said it would provide further updates “when available,” advising customers not to make any deposits on the platform.

Liquid Group and all of its operating subsidiaries, including the Japan-based Quoine Corporation and Quoine Pte. in Singapore, were acquired by FTX Trading Ltd in an undisclosed deal earlier this year.

Quoine's Liquid Exchange was one of the first crypto exchanges to be fully licensed by the Japan Financial Services Agency and has also applied for a license with the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

The exchange has its own utility token called QASH, which can be used to receive discounts on Liquid exchange fees.

The price of QASH plunged by 25% on today’s news, according to CoinGecko.

How FTX collapse affects the market

The demise of the FTX exchange has been a major talking point across the crypto industry for over a week now.

In a massive turn of fortunes for Sam Bankman-Fried, who founded FTX and its associated trading company Alameda Research, the 30-year-old billionaire’s empire collapsed in a matter of days after an estimated $10 billion hole was revealed, further shaking confidence in the already troubled crypto market.

Liquid Global halting withdrawals just adds to a growing list of companies affected by recent events, which saw the likes of crypto lending and trading platform BlockFi execute the same last week and crypto venture firm Sino Global Capital revealing losses due to its “mid-seven figures” exposure to FTX.

Last week, Crypto investment and trading group CoinShares announced it had a roughly $30.3 million exposure to FTX.

Recent court filings also showed that more than a million creditors could have claims against the bankrupt exchange, with more revelations almost certainly to follow.