A crypto exchange has suspended trading of cryptocurrencies dedicated to New York City and Miami, citing limited liquidity for the tokens.
Both coins earlier received support from the cities’ respective mayors, New York City’s Eric Adams and Miami’s Francis Suarez, who touted the digital assets as benefiting the community. Like any other proof-of-work token, users could mine the coins, but MIA and NYC came with a twist: 30% of the money spent on mining would be donated to the city, according to Okcoin.
The exchange suspended buying, selling and trading of NYCCoin and MiamiCoin last week, according to a March 9 statement from Okcoin. Token holders can withdraw their holdings to another wallet or keep them there. The exchange aims to restore trading of the coins “as soon as possible,” per the release.
ICYMI my interview on MiamiCoin w/ @FoxBusiness
— Mayor Francis Suarez (@FrancisSuarez) September 20, 2021The revolutionary concept of @mineCityCoins
“The concern with low liquidity is that malicious, third-party actors can manipulate prices, launder stolen funds, and perpetrate other frauds,” Okcoin said. “While none of these risks have occurred, we wanted to get ahead of any possible misconduct. So we moved immediately to address and stop these events from occurring.”
Okcoin didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. Miami’s city office was not available to comment and a New York city representative for the mayor’s office said NYCCoin has “no affiliation” with the city.
Fortune broke the news that Binance had liquidated the USDC collateral–burning it, in crypto parlance–and using the proceeds to pay its U.S. minting partner Paxos to create new BUSD. Alert — if you trade crypto on Binance, consider yourself warned.
If you’re curious to delve deeper into the topic, read more about it here.
