Poloniex, Fearing Regulatory Backlash, Prevents Sale of 9 Crypto Assets In US

Poloniex has stopped US customers from buying and selling nine potentially non-regulated tokens.

May 16, 2019 at 8:30 p.m. UTC

Updated Sep 13, 2021 at 9:12 a.m. UTC

Poloniex announced that it will prevent US buyers from purchasing nine crypto assets. Poloniex said that the assets - ARDR, BCN, DCR, GAME, GAS, LSK, NXT, OMNI, and REP - are dangerously close to being securities under US law. Non-US buyers will still have access to the tokens.

"It is not possible to be certain whether US regulators will consider these assets to be securities," they wrote in a Medium post.

US customers holding balances in ARDR, BCN, DCR, GAME, GAS, LSK, NXT, OMNI, and REP on Poloniex must finalize all trades and close any positions in these assets prior to May 29th. Once delisted, customers will be able to withdraw these assets from their wallet for as long as we support the asset globally.

US fintech company Circle acquired Poloniex in February 2018. It appears the the new owners looked to clean how's and found tokens like Game.com's GAME and Lisk.io's LISK are insufficiently covered by regulatory documentation to continue sales in the US.

Image via Poloniex

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