KuCoin Shuts Down Bitcoin And Litecoin Mining Pools Amid Market Turmoil

KuCoin, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has temporarily halted its KuCoin Pool service, effective August 15, 2023, until further notice. The move is part of KuCoin’s business strategy and aims to ensure the security and integrity of users’ assets.

KuCoin Urges Users To Backup Mining Records

During the suspension, users will retain complete access and control over their assets, and all other KuCoin offerings will remain operational as usual. 

However, users who are involved in cryptocurrency mining are advised to transition their Bitcoin (BTC) and Litecoin (LTC) miners to alternative mining pools before the deadline to ensure uninterrupted earnings.

KuCoin has also advised users to back up and preserve their mining records and associated data before August 27, 2023, as failure to migrate to alternative mining pools within the specified timeline could affect their mining revenue. 

Nevertheless, KuCoin Pool will not be held accountable for any potential earnings lapses resulting from users’ failure to migrate to alternative pools.

The temporary suspension of KuCoin’s mining pools may cause some disruption in the crypto market, as mining plays an important role in the ecosystem. Despite this, it is worth noting that KuCoin is just one exchange, and its suspension may not have a significant impact on the overall market.

KuCoin has assured its users that the suspension is temporary, and the company is working on a new strategy for its mining pool service. The company has also emphasized that the security and integrity of users’ assets remain its top priority, and it will take all necessary steps to ensure the safety of users’ funds.

Litecoin Halving Triggers Price Drop

Litecoin, one of the oldest and most popular cryptocurrencies, has completed its third block reward halving at a block height of 2,520,000, as reported by Colin Wu. The halving event has cut the mining reward in half, from 12.5 LTC to 6.25 LTC, as part of the cryptocurrency’s deflationary monetary policy.

The halving is a regular event that occurs approximately every four years and is designed to control the rate at which new coins are minted. By reducing the reward for mining new blocks, the halving helps to prevent inflation and maintain the scarcity of the cryptocurrency.

The current price of Litecoin is $89.12, which represents a 3.8% decline over the past 24 hours and a 10% decline over the past six months. The price drop may be related to market uncertainty surrounding the halving event, as well as broader market conditions.

KuCoin

Despite the short-term price decline, many analysts remain optimistic about the long-term prospects for Litecoin and the cryptocurrency market as a whole. The halving event is seen as a positive development that highlights the ongoing maturation of the industry and the growing recognition of cryptocurrencies as a legitimate asset class.

Litecoin has a strong community and a dedicated development team, which continue to work on improving the technology and expanding the use cases for the cryptocurrency.

The halving event is expected to further strengthen Litecoin’s position as a leading cryptocurrency and contribute to its long-term growth and success.

Overall, the completion of Litecoin’s third block reward halving is a significant milestone for the cryptocurrency and the broader industry.

While short-term price volatility is to be expected, the long-term outlook for Litecoin and cryptocurrencies, in general, remains positive, with many experts predicting continued growth and adoption in the years to come.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView.com

Reddit User Calls Out KuCoin Over ≈$50,000 Stuck On Exchange

The heat has been on crypto exchange KuCoin recently after a Reddit user called them out on Reddit regarding funds being held on the exchange. The user had first taken to Reddit to vent their frustrations in an open letter to CEO Johnny Lyu after making no progress with its customer support representatives. According to the user’s statements, the exchange was withholding ≈$50K worth of crypto on the exchange.

The user explained that KuCoin had announced that they would be supporting a new BCH fork, eCash (XEC), leading them and many others to invest in the asset on the exchange. Problems arose when the exchange had run out of liquidity for the cryptocurrency. KuCoin users realize that they could not sell their holdings without doing so at a significant loss (selling for cents to the dollar).

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However, a much sinister issue arose when they found out they could not transfer the coins out either. Since then, the user claimed that they have had ≈$50,000 worth of crypto being withheld by the exchange for over six months and still have not been allowed to move their coins.

Open Letter To KuCoin CEO

The Reddit user who goes by the username u/BCHcain had first drawn attention to the issue when they posted an open letter to CEO Johnny Lyu about four days ago. In the open letter, they include screenshots of their communications with the support staff dating back at least six months. The user explained that KuCoin had been giving them the runaround with no real indication of solving the issue and had ‘receipts’ to back this up.

CEO Johnny Lyu had responded to this open letter about three days after posting, giving what could be described as a low-effort response to a clearly distressed user.

“Thanks for bringing it up. The upgrade is underway, and since it’s not just a simple rename or rebrand, we still need some time to complete it. Thanks for your patience and understanding,” Lyu wrote.

Reddit users had called out the CEO over the response, pointing out that the answer proved everything that the user had claimed in their post; that the exchange did not seem interested in solving their issue.

Calling On The Community

Four days after the open letter had been posted, the u/BCHcain had once again posted to Reddit. This time calling on the community to help amplify the issue, pointing out that if it could happen to them, then it could happen to anyone. This follow-up post garnered considerably more attention than the open letter.

The issue has raised concerns over the power centralized exchanges have over the funds of users. In a way, these centralized exchanges control user funds the same way as banks, something that the crypto enthusiasts are fervently trying to do away with.

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The crypto exchange had also been called out on the same platform by another user who claimed that KuCoin was using Cloudfare to deny access to the platform during bull rallies in order to force users to liquidate and then profit from these liquidations.

KuCoin is yet to respond to the second post. However, it continues to spark conversations around issues with KuCoin and CEXes in general. As of the time of writing, the post has received 5.3K upvotes and has 1.6K comments.

Featured image from CoinDesk, chart from TradingView.com