Bitfinex Reopens New Registrations With New Conditions For 2018
"I heard the news today... oh boy!"
OK, I've always wanted to start a post with a John Lennon line so please indulge me that. But seriously, one of the first things I came upon when making my morning coffee today was this announcement from Bitfinex pasted verbatim below...
Major points summarised:
- One month ago, new registrations were suspended in order to preserve the platform under the load of high interest
- The restriction was lifted overnight
- A new requirements for new accounts is that initial deposits must exceed USD10k in order to be activated.
- Existing clients unimpacted
- No ongoing minimum balances enforced after this initial activation
Bitfinex Reopens Registrations
January 12, 20182017 was a spectacular year for Bitfinex. We have seen our most optimistic forecasts exceeded and the new year will continue this trend with the addition of numerous high-quality digital assets, new fiat trading pairs, an even faster trading engine, and the launch of Ethfinex.
However, this extreme growth has not come without challenges. In fact, one month ago we decided to temporarily curtail new account registration in a move designed to preserve the trading, support, and verification experiences of our existing, long-term user base.
Today we are pleased to announce the reopening of Bitfinex to new accounts. However, please take note of the new requirements outlined below.
New Account Requirements
Bitfinex is a global liquidity source with a focus on serving professional traders and regional exchanges. We suggest that traders who are new to cryptocurrency trading try another, more straightforward platform first and return to Bitfinex later.
To that end, and to allow us to maintain focus on our core customer base, all accounts created after January 1st, 2018, will have a new activation equity requirement. New accounts will need to deposit fiat or crypto to achieve minimum account equity of 10,000 USD equivalent before they can trade or offer funding. After reaching this minimum, an account becomes fully activated (Note that after this initial activation, account equity is allowed to drop below this activation threshold without consequence).
Existing accounts will not be affected by these changes. This change only affects new accounts.
Thank you,
Bitfinex Management
This is good news for crypto in a world that looked, and still does look increasingly hostile to new players. Registration restrictions, restrictions placed upon fiat transfers, it was all looking hazardous. It's nice to see a reduction in the level of restriction and that cases such as these can indeed be temporary.
Happy trading!
I think it's a good thing that they are requiring minimums, One way to weed out all the new support tickets which had to be overwhelming.
My vibe is that it's based (at least partly) on reducing the resources they need to spend on those members that don't provide as much volume. I agree with you that this is probably one of the motivations @dougish.
Interesting news, thanks. I don't trust Bitfinex though and a $10K USD minimum initial deposit is a big ask.
Hey @buggedout. I've heard that idea of lack of trust in Bitfinex a bit but never looked into the grounds for it. Have they been bad players in the past? Interested to learn the dirt on them ;-)
I have not researched it enough to advise. There are some reported banking issues for Bitfinex and they also are behind Tether which to date doesn't seem to have a credible audit of the cash reserves that are supposed to be backing that crypto. Maybe the $10K is a way of dealing with liquidity issues? Just pure speculation so please DYOR too.
"A new requirements for new accounts is that initial deposits must exceed USD10k in order to be activated." That's crazy man!
I guess it's a different way of applying limitations to new sign-ups without influencing those who can provide reasonable liquidity. Thanks for the comment!
Wow, 10k is very high!
It's funny @realitycheck, someone I read in their material that Bitfinex is a professional platform and (my words here) if users aren't comfortable with the advanced features or have no trading experience then perhaps it's best if they learn elsewhere! I guess the 10k figure is aimed at semi-serious players.
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