As one of the financial journalists of the New York Times, Nathaniel Popper, learned from Twitter, the largest cryptocurrency platform Bitstamp is in the final stage of sale to South Korean investors. Whether this information is reliable or this is another round of bearish hype is unknown.
Despite the information leaked to the press, neither the owners of Bitstamp nor investors have yet commented on the situation.
Some crypto enthusiasts reacted to the news of the sale of the exchange with poorly concealed anger. This fact is understandable, because no one is really familiar with South Korean legislation regarding the regulation of digital currencies. Moreover, fake news about the ban on cryptocurrencies in South Korea often appeared in the press, which did not influence the attitude of the crypto community towards this country in the best way.
Many write angry posts on Twitter threatening that now most of the clients of the crypto platform will stop working with it.
The undoubted advantage of Bitstamp is that it is one of the few crypto exchanges whose users have the opportunity to deposit funds using bank cards. This is due to the fact that Bitstamp Ltd has a license for financial activities in Europe, where it is registered as a “payment authority”. The exchange is fully controlled by the Luxembourg Supervisory Commission and therefore reports to this regulator. We can say that in terms of the convenience of the user interface and minimizing the risk of regulatory pressure, Bitstamp has no equal.
And if you also consider that, according to the exchange management, 98% of user funds are stored using Cold Storage technology (the exchange came to this option after being hacked in 2015), then one can understand the indignation of users.
In the conditions of today's uncertainty of the crypto market and unreasonably harsh pressure from global regulators, the fear of losing one of the “islands of safety” for crypto traders is very justified.
More details about the Bitstamp crypto exchange and its competitors can be read in our article "Review of cryptocurrency exchanges. What criteria should be followed when choosing an exchange?"
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