If you want to keep your cryptocurrencies safe, follow my advice

Last week I was checking all the balances of my wallets and exchanges as usual. I also have an account on Hotbit where I keep around 2–300 USDT to buy some s**tcoins, wait for the pump and sell at the right time to make some money. I wanted to withdraw those 2–300 USDT and move them to another platform but I couldn’t because I found myself in front of this screen.

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It says: ” Dear Hotbit users, we regret to inform you that Hotbit will have to suspend trading, deposit, withdrawal and funding functions, the exact time of resumption cannot be determined at the moment.

The reason is that a former Hotbit management employee who left Hotbit in April this year was involved in a project last year (which was against Hotbit’s internal principles and of which Hotbit was unknown) that law enforcement authorities now think is suspected of violating criminal laws. So, a number of Hotbit senior managers have been subpoenaed by law enforcement since the end of July and are assisting in the investigation. Furthermore, law enforcement has frozen some funds of Hotbit, which has prevented Hotbit from running normally.

Hotbit and the rest employees of Hotbit’s management are not involved in the project and have no knowledge of the illegal information involved in the project. However, we are still actively cooperating with the law enforcement authorities in their investigations and are continuously communicating with them through our lawyers and applying for the release of the frozen assets. The assets of all users are safe on Hotbit.

Hotbit will resume normal service as soon as the assets are unfrozen. All user’s assets and data on Hotbit are secure and correct.

Hotbit is working hard to continue to cooperate and follow up on the progress of the investigation by law enforcement authorities, and will announce the results of the investigation as soon as they are available.

About the treatment of user’s assets on Hotbit during the suspension time, please click here.

If there is any update about this issue, we will inform you through our community.

· Hotbit English Telegram group: https://t.me/Hotbit_English

· Hotbit English Telegram announcement channel: https://t.me/Hotbit_announcements

· Hotbit official Twitter: https://twitter.com/Hotbit_news

We are sorry for any inconvenience caused.

Hotbit Team

August 10th, 2022”

In summary, trading, deposit, withdrawal and funding functions are suspended from August 10, 2022 due to an ongoing investigation and now my funds are frozen.
This reminds me of the tweet I read a few hours ago. Binance froze $ 1 million corporate account without any explanation (according to Binance due to law enforcement request) and all balances were set to zero.


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The account belongs to a Tezos tool contributor @TezosBakingBad and ends his tweet by saying “for now just stay away from Binance and @cz_binance #SAFU”. Faced with the latter’s grievances, the exchange replied that “Binance is required to cooperate with such requests, the same as any other exchange. There is a process to contest the seizure with the agency should you wish to pursue that path. But that is done through the agency, Binance has zero control over that process. “ According to Binance, he was already advised of this multiple times and provided the LE contact form through support chat system on 7/6, 7/12, and 7/22. @TezosBakingBad replied saying that they had sent five requests from that form and that they haven’t received any response.

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This summer, there was a succession of news regarding bankruptcy proceedings and insolvencies of important companies in the crypto world. Just to report a few, one is that of the German crypto bank Nuri, born in Berlin in 2015, that on the evening of August 9, 2022, started the bankruptcy proceedings. According to the App-bank, this would be a “temporary insolvency” to achieve a lightning-fast restructuring. Nuri assured its 500,000 customers that nothing changes for services, current accounts and deposits, investments on the App. This summer Nuri was under pressure from the bankruptcy of the American partner Celsius Network. Explaining the reasons behind the decision to declare insolvency, Nuri said the startup faced “lasting strain” on corporate liquidity in 2022 due to “significant macroeconomic headwinds”, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as “ the cooling of public and private capital markets”. In addition, various negative developments in the cryptocurrency markets earlier this year, including major cryptocurrency sales, the implosion of Luna/Terra protocol, the insolvency of Celsius and other major crypto funds, led to a market bearish of cryptocurrencies. On the page devoted to questions regarding the declaration of insolvency, Nuri said that he will work out the next steps together with the bankruptcy trustee and that “all funds are safe”.

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However, Nuri’s management guarantees that customers will now have no difficulty: all euro balances in bank accounts, cryptocurrencies in digital wallets and other investment goods and products remain accessible and usable. According to Handelsblatt, other fintech companies are now interested in acquiring parts of Nuri. Nuri’s chief executive, Kristina Walcker-Mayer, said: “We are confident that, in the current corporate situation, insolvency proceedings provide the best basis for developing a long-term sustainable restructuring concept.”

As for Celsius, the platform has filed for bankruptcy and has 1.7 million registered users and more than 300,000 active accounts with a balance of over $ 100,000. The $ 14.5 billion in cryptocurrency assets managed by the company fell to just 1.75 billion in July; of these, about 180 million are in Celsius deposits.


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Client funds are all locked into the platform and the return of these funds to clients will be determined by the decisions of the judge. The lawyers of Celsius, led by Pat Nash, explained how retail users with Earn and Borrow accounts transferred the title of their coins to the firm as per its terms of service (ToS). So Celsius is free to “use, sell, pledge, and rehypothecate those coins” as it wishes.

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What is the purpose of this article? I know guys you have heard it a million times but you must have this concept very clear: not your keys not your coins. Giving your funds into the hands of other people means giving them away. Your funds can get stuck on exchanges or other platforms due to an investigation, bankruptcy or arbitrary decision. Your funds could be frozen or lost forever.

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Leave only the funds you need for trading, investing or staking on exchanges and other platforms. Keep all your cryptocurrencies safe in your wallets and never share your private keys with anyone for any reason. 

A winner is a dreamer who never gives up.

Disclaimer: I am not aware of any third party rights on the images used. I undertake to cite the source if there are any and to adjust the position if requested.

Disclaimer: Trading cryptocurrencies carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Before deciding to trade cryptocurrency you should carefully consider your investment objectives and your level of experience. Do Your Own Research. All opinions expressed here are owned by the respective writer and should never be considered as financial advice in any form.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Alberto Vischio

CRYPTO_ALBERT   

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF NEW COIN POST AND CRYPTOCURRENCIES ADDICTED SINCE 2018. I HELP PEOPLE TO UNDERSTAND BETTER THIS SECTOR AND ITS PURPOSES.