Crypto Exchange Bittrex Cancels Its First ‘Initial Exchange Offering’

United States crypto exchange Bittrex has cancelled its first token sale, dubbed an Initial Exchange Offering (IEO), which it had been planning to host on its Malta-based counterpart, Bittrex International. The news was announced in an official statement published on March 14.

Earlier this week, Bittrex International had announced plans to host the IEO today, March 15,  allowing investors to use Bitcoin (BTC) to purchase “XRD” tokens, developed by international gaming data blockchain project, Raid.

In yesterday’s announcement, the exchange outlined that it decided to cancel the IEO “as a result of significant changes in the business status of RAID.” Specifically, it explained that:

“A few hours ago [on March 14], OP.GG terminated its strategic partnership with RAID, which was a vital part of the RAID project. When [we] became aware of this significant event, we did not feel that it was in the best interest of our customers to move forward with the IEO.”

Bittrex International states that it chose to act quickly, citing the challenges it faces as a crypto trading platform to remain “vigilant to ensure the integrity of our markets.” The statement added that:

“one of the hardest challenges we face in advancing blockchain adoption is to avoid the rampant fear, uncertainty, and doubt that is everywhere in this industry.”

As previously reported, Bittrex’s move to enter the exchange-hosted token sale space follows the precedent of major crypto exchange Binance. The exchange’s token sale platform Launchpad hosted the high-profile token sale for the Tron-based BitTorrent token (BTT) this January, followed by another public token sale for AI and smart contract project Fetch.AI in February.

Bittrex is currently ranked 49th largest crypto exchange globally by adjusted daily trade volume, seeing about $62.8 million in trades on the day to press time.