BTC-e to Offer Free Trading for Exchange Debt Token

Bitcoin exchange BTC-e has revealed new details about a cryptographic token it plans to issue as part of a bid to refund users following a US law enforcement crackdown.

As CoinDesk previously reported, BTC-e – the long-running and mysterious bitcoin exchange that was taken down late last month following the arrest of one of its alleged operators – has said it plans to pay back user funds held by the exchange.

Posting via cryptocurrency forums and Twitter, those involved say they have regained control of just over half of the funds tied to the exchange. Further, echoing a previous effort by bitcoin exchange Bitfinex, which issued a token to users after it lost $60 million in bitcoin to a hack last summer, BTC-e says it will distributed tokens to cover the deficit.

Among , BTC-e says it will offer free trading in a market for those tokens (called BTCT), through which users can sell at the prevailing rate. The tokens will trade at "any price, but no more than their face value," the representative said.

The post goes on to explain:

"For example, you had 1 BTC. You will receive 0.55 BTC and 0.45 BTCT. 0.55 BTC you can output immediately. The remaining 0.45 BTCT you can either exchange for BTC at the market rate, or wait for their exchange at face value."

In an earlier post, BTC-e said that it was in the process of obtaining outside capital to support the exchange relaunch. As part of that process, BTC-e has indicated that it will rebrand, though what name the site will use remains to be seen.

Trading image via Shutterstock

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