Traders of the Bitcoin exchange Bitfinex can no longer deposit funds into the platform in order to buy cryptocurrency. While the exchange failed to provide any details on the reasons for the move, it is very likely a result of pressure put on the company’s Taiwanese banks by the American international banking and financial services group, Wells Fargo.
The company has issued the following statement: “Beginning April 18, 2017, all incoming wires to Bitfinex will be blocked and refused by our Taiwan banks. This applies to all fiat currencies at the present time. Accordingly, we ask customers to avoid sending incoming wires to us until further notice, effective immediately.
We continue to work on alternative solutions for customers that wish to either deposit or withdraw in fiat, and are making progress in this regard. We will continue to update our customers as and when we have more information to share.”
Last week it was revealed that Bitfinex dropped a lawsuit against Wells Fargo, accusing it for pressuring its banks into blocking its outgoing wire transfers. The lawsuit was filed in the US just earlier this month and there is no sign that Wells Fargo stopped the actions that Bitfinex feared. It was handled by the Washington-headquartered Steptoe & Johnson, one of the first law firms to establish a global, multidisciplinary Blockchain practice.
Last month Bitfinex has added support for trading on the privacy-focused cryptocurrency Dash.
