- Poloniex exchange disabled its XRP, Tron and Ethereum wallets temporarily for maintenance, the second time it had done this for XRP in a week.
- The maintenance comes amid a probe by a Canadian regulator that claims Poloniex has been operating illegally.
Poloniex, one of the world’s oldest and most renowned exchanges recently disabled its XRP, Tron, Ethereum and ERC-20 token wallets, citing maintenance. The maintenance comes at a time when a Canadian regulator filed allegations against the exchange, claiming it has been operating illegally.
Poloniex first announced that it had disabled its XRP wallet on May 24. It offered no other information on what the maintenance involved.
On the next day, it enabled the XRP wallet again. However, it once again disabled the wallet yesterday, announcing the hitch on Twitter via its support page. It would later re-enable the wallet.
Other wallets that it had halted temporarily for maintenance include Tron (TRX) and TRC20 tokens, Ethereum (ETH) and ERC20 tokens, Polkadot (DOT), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Bytecoin (BCN).
XRP has seen a slight dip in the past 24 hours, in line with the overall market trend. It has lost over 5 percent to trade at $0.8745 at press time. It set an intra-day high at $0.922 and a low at $0.7951. The trading volume has taken a dip as well, shedding 11 percent to clock $5.3 billion.
Canadian regulator goes after Poloniex
For Poloniex, maintenance issues are not the only bad news it has faced this week. The Ontario Securities Commission has claimed that the exchange has been operating illegally.
In a statement of allegations, the OSC revealed that it was seeking to hold Polo Digital Assets accountable for “disregarding Ontario securities law and to signal that crypto-asset trading platforms flouting Ontario securities law will face regulatory action.”
The regulator outlined that Poloniex is subject to Ontario securities laws because it offers securities and derivatives. It has emphasized on such platforms registering for some time now, most recently on March 29 2021, the regulator stated. At the time, it gave the platforms three weeks to obtain a license or face regulatory action.
Despite the warning, Poloniex did not contact the Commission by April 19, 2021, or at any time to start compliance discussions.
Poloniex is licensed in Seychelles.
The OSC wants the exchange to immediately cease offering its services to Ontario residents and be reprimanded. In addition, it wants Poloniex to pay an administrative penalty not exceeding CAD 1 million (US$ 830,000). It must also pay the costs the Commission incurred on the investigation and the hearing.
