U.S. customers of OKCoin, one of the largest bitcoin exchanges, cannot deposit money into their accounts anymore. The reason for this, according to the company, is the situation with bitcoin regulation in the United States.

American clients can still trade on OKCoin. They can withdraw their funds whenever they wish. The only thing they cannot do is to deposit bitcoins, litecoins or American dollars into their OKCoin accounts. When they try to do, they see the message:

OKCoin says the measure is “temporary” and apologises for the inconvenience. However, according to the company’s representative, it is “not clear for now” how long this situation will last.

OKCoin is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. According to Coinmarketcap, it is currently 4th largest in trade volume, after Bitstamp, Bitfinex and BTC-E, having traded over $2 millions in bitcoin and litecoin over the last 24 hours.

As CoinFox already wrote, many bitcoin companies including ShapeShift, Kraken, Bitfinex, Local Bitcoins, and BitQuick have decided to leave New York when BitLicense was adopted. OKCoin’s decision to severe the ties with American customers is likely caused by the same reason as well as the apprehension that other U.S. states may follow the example of New York.

Alexey Tereshchenko