Blow for cryptocurrency exchanges in Bulgaria as FIBank cuts services

Blow for cryptocurrency exchanges in Bulgaria as FIBank cuts services
By bne IntelliNews December 9, 2017

Bulgaria's First Investment Bank (FIBank) said on December 8 it has stopped servicing cryptocurrency traders that were using it to settle payments to customers, forcing several exchanges to stop work and causing outrage among the local cryptocurrency community.

The cryptocurrency market in Bulgaria has been booming in recent months, as interest has risen. Several companies have successfully completed initial coin offerings (ICOs).

"A large part of the correspondent banks, such as JP Morgan Chase, Commerzbank, and a number of other banks working with FIBank, refuse to accept transfers for the purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies. In this respect, FIBank cannot continue to provide services to traders of cryptocurrencies," the bank said in a statement.

It added that all crypto exchanges were given access to their bank accounts to pay their clients.

A day earlier, two local cryptocurrency exchanges said that the bank had blocked their accounts and terminated their contracts.

“As of December 6, FIBank has blocked our access to our bank account, claiming that will perform changes to our account and will unblock it by the end of the working day. Nobody from the bank has called us and our account remained frozen,” Cryptobank.bg said in a statement.

Another crypto exchange, crypto.bg, said that the problem was “not in FIBank, but in the banking system” and said that it will resume its operations once it finds a solution.

According to Money.bg, Bulgarian crypto exchanges are unlikely to be able to find another commercial bank to work with as, although this has not been officially announced, most refuse to service them.

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