Bittrex US, the U.S. arm of crypto exchange Bittrex, is set to open for customer withdrawals on Thursday, June 15th, following a ruling by a Delaware bankruptcy court. The exchange filed for bankruptcy in May, and the U.S. government had opposed its legal bid to let customers access their holdings, claiming it was still owed millions for sanctions violations. Judge Brendan Shannon authorized Bittrex US and its affiliates “to permit their customers holding undisputed, noncontingent, and liquidated claims to withdraw cryptocurrency assets and fiat currency from the Debtors’ trading platform to the extent of such claims.”
The ruling does not determine who legally owns the assets, and there could be clawbacks in future. Patty Tomasco, a partner at law firm Quinn Emmanuel who is representing Bittrex, said “the platform will be up and running for withdrawals on Thursday, June 15.” The exchange experienced millions of dollars of withdrawals after announcing its plan to close U.S. operations in March. As of May 10, the company said it held $300 million in customer cash and crypto in the U.S. arm.
Bittrex, along with other crypto exchanges such as Binance and Coinbase, had faced charges from U.S. regulators that it violated federal law by operating an unregistered securities exchange.