Cryptocurrency market collapsing with BTC down 4% in a matter of hours after police seizes Bithumb

The largest cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea is accused of fraud.
The cryptocurrency market is in a bloodbath with all major coins nursing losses.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police raided the offices of Bithumb, South Korea's largest crypto exchange, according to the report on the local media outlet Seoul Shinmun. As the news goes the exchange is accused of the fraud related to the token sale.

Bithumb allegedly pre-sold BXA tokens to the tune of 30 billion won ( about $25 million), but never listed it afterward, which led to massive losses to the investors. Bithumb explained that BXA tokens were issued in relation to its acquisition by Singapore-based BK Group; However, the deal was not closed after all. Notably, Bithumb chairman Lee Jung Hoon is also under investigation.

The news triggered a massive sell-off on the market with Bitcoin (BTC) and all major altcoins are deep in red. BTC/USD is changing hands at at $11,300, down over 4% since the start of the day. Both ETH and XRP are down by over 6%, while EOS and BCH are nursing losses of over 10%.

The collapse is intensified by the large-scale positions liquidation. According to Bytbt.com, over 65k people liquidated their positions on the cryptocurrency derivatives markets over the mast 24 hours. The largest single liquidation to the tune of $8.99 million happened on Bitmex in BTC.

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