- TRT has suspended withdrawals and transfers, a reminiscence of the FTX’s downfall.
- The tiny exchange was founded in 2011 and had 34,000 registered users at the time of its fall.
One of the oldest cryptocurrency exchanges in Italy is closing down due to liquidity challenges, joining the likes of FTX and Mt. Gox, whose abrupt exit from the market led to endless lawsuits and massive losses to investors.
The Rock Trading (TRT) announced in a post dated February 21, saying it was yet to comprehend the cause of its liquidity management crisis.
“The Rock Trading platform informs that it has been necessary to interrupt the operations of its platform as of today’s date due to difficulties encountered in liquidity management. The company is conducting internal audits to identify the causes of the problem and evaluating the adoption of all the appropriate or necessary initiatives to protect customers and other stakeholders,” the company wrote on its website, which has since turned into a single page.
Suspension Of Withdrawals And Transfers
Following the step, TRT users’ accounts were turned into read-only mode, only allowing for balance query, accounts history, and downloads of statements – with no support for withdrawals or funds transfers.
Although the extent of the investors’ losses is yet to be known, it is relatively lower compared to similar fallouts like that of FTX or Mt. Gox. According to the local Italian media outlets, TRT had only 34,000 registered users on the platform, barely managing a daily trading volume exceeding $1M. Per a report published by Il Fatto Quitidiano, its problems date back to 2021, when the platform lost 311 ether tokens estimated at 900,000 euros, in an exploit.
Describing itself as ‘the first European Exchange,’ TRT was started in 2011, among some of the earliest cryptocurrency companies besides Bitstamp. The exchange’s founders, Andrea Medri and Davide Barbieri created the platform as a bitcoin exchange, and raised 1.5 euros in a funding round in September 2020.
