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 the new details, 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.