South African cryptocurrency exchange, iCE3 has entered into liquidation after the company found discrepancies in its Bitcoin and Litecoin balances last month.
According to an official update released on Tuesday, the exchange will not reopen its operations, which was suspended in mid-March.
“We regret to inform you that the platform will not return to operation and that we have been advised to initiate liquidation proceedings,” the notification from the exchange noted.
Additionally, the exchange disabled all withdrawals, but it is processing requests manually. According to iCE3, there are no pending withdrawal requests other than Bitcoin and Litecoin, which it is not processing for the time being.
Audit Result Is Pending
The South African exchange initially noticed discrepancies in its Bitcoin and Litecoin balances last month. It quickly suspended deposits and trading services after the findings and also halted all Bitcoin and Litecoin withdrawals until the ‘outcome of a full investigation and reconciliation’.
“After consultation and deliberation with our partner Merkeleon.com and their subsidiary Coinspaid.com, we have not been able to reach a satisfactory conclusion,” the crypto trading venue noted earlier.
Despite the announcement of liquidation, the exchange did not provide any details on its mismatched balances. Though it highlighted that it ‘will provide further details and next steps’ on April 7. However, no fresh notification came as of press time.
iCE3 is shutting its operations at a time when other crypto exchanges are flourishing with the rising crypto prices. However, an incident like this has again highlighted the necessity of Regulation over such digital currency trading venues. Earlier, a Canadian crypto exchange chief died without sharing the private keys with the management, which resulted in the lock of user funds.
