Bitcoin’s price grows again to near $10K
As CoinDesk reported, customers of WEX – a kind of successor to the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e – have been on tenterhooks since July 12, as they’ve largely been unable to get outbound payments processed.
The only exceptions have been for the crypto assets tether and zcash (along with lower-volume, lesser-known alternatives like namecoin and novacoin) and the price disparities suggest that some WEX users are utilizing these tokens as a way out. The normally dollar-tied tether, also known as USDT, is currently above $2 and WEX’s price for zcash (against the US dollar) is $440, or more than double the prevailing rate on the broader market.
Those looking to convert their money held on WEX to zcash or tether just to get it out of the exchange must pay a steep price, according to one customer.
“If you buy zcash on WEX, you will have to sell it somewhere else much cheaper, losing up to 50 percent, as the USDT rate is now $2.195 on WEX,” Grigory, a systems administrator from a town in Russia called Ivanovo, told CoinDesk. Further, the ability to make withdrawals has become unavailable again from time to time, he added.
In the absence of word from WEX staff, users have taken to social media and the exchange’s chat box to wonder aloud about the story behind the delay.
Cryptocurrency prices have risen on the site as well, with the value of bitcoin exceeding $9,600 as of press time, or more than $1,400 above the price recorded on CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index (BPI). Prior to the withdrawal issues, prices on the exchange had notably spiked above $9,000.
Source: coindesk.com