A New York citizen has reportedly pressed legal charges against Bittrex – a crypto exchange platform headquartered in the US – for withholding funds.
Reported by The Block on June 30th, the New Yorker stated that in August last year, she has deposited about $120,000 onto her wallet in Bittrex. The firm has then ceased her account and will keep hold of her money until November 2019. She also claimed that Bittrex “attempted to extort her by withholding the funds she had in her account”, should she refused to sign an agreement to drop any rights she had to sue the firm.
Bittrex has denied the allegations from the plaintiff, and further stated that there is no concrete evidence from the New York resident as to where the fund is from, as requested by the New York state and U.S. federal law. As stated by Bittrex, when the plaintiff decided to open an account with the firm, she has already read and agreed on the term and services document, which grants Bittrex the right to use the arbitration clause included in the contract.
The first page of the document has reportedly provided details to the “arbitration clause” – “governs the resolution of certain disputes and waives any right to trial by jury or to participate in a class action.” Bittrex now looks to put the arbitration in motion, or give the case to a federal court in Seattle.
There are yet any responses from the plaintiff, regarding the approved Bittrex request.
“One imagines an uphill battle convincing an arbitrator that (if we assume Bittrex’s argument is correct) that requiring documentation of source of funds is somehow unlawful if required by state and federal law.”
Also in April, a US-based crypto exchange Kraken is being sued by its former employee for the company’s failure of paying over $900,000 for his work.
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