Bittrex and its core team of the three co-founders, Bill Shahara, Richie Lai, and Rami Kawach, started their journey in 2014 as a new cryptocurrency exchange based in the US. The co-founders, all three of them, come from a similar background in information security. They even worked for the same company, Amazon, at entry-level engineering positions before starting Bittrex.
In this age, when most legit tech companies are vying for global attention and running from pillar to post to ensure that their company executives have a solid online presence on various social media platforms, Bittrex chooses to take the usual scammy route. A trained eye can easily see through their dubious intent and find early signs of potential fraud in it.
“Bittrex became the first exchange to light the torch of trust by putting a human face in front of a blockchain platform.”
~ Sourced from the Bittrex website
Bittrex states on their website that they lit a torch of trust (whatever that is) “by putting a human face in front.” Let me tell you that it’s nothing but a bunch of BS. As I looked around, I tried hard to get to that “human face” of Bittrex – it was nowhere to be found. I, too, failed like most Bittrex users in getting any human response from Bittrex.
If you go to the about section on the main Bittrex website, you’ll find that the co-founders’ photos and social links are absent. Google them, and you’ll realize that it’s pretty challenging to reach them. Now, most of us know that companies who adopt this modus-operandi have something to hide. Is Bittrex one of them, a company with hidden agendas?
The question was hounding me for days, and I decided to do some digging, and boy did I find facts about Bittrex and its traits of becoming a potential scam. I tried reaching out to their customer service and other team members to see if they would be willing to provide me with some answers. However, as of writing this article, I have not heard back from anyone in the Bittrex team yet.
Bittrex’s Facebook Timeline – the Place Where Despair and Scammers Thrive
Since the Bittrex founders were proving to be a bunch of shady characters and avoided any direct contact with the rest of the online world, I thought of checking their company’s social media pages. Facebook showed up as a prominent place where Bittrex was active. So, I decided to let myself in on their fabulous Facebook page.
I didn’t know I was in for this big of a surprise. For a company that claims to be one of the most secure cryptocurrency exchanges globally, the Facebook page of Bittrex paints an opposite story. It’s full of Bittrex customers begging for resolutions that have been pending for ages.
Many of them got blocked out of their Bittrex accounts with no explanations given, and their crypto and FIAT deposits were worth thousands of dollars, all seized or possibly stolen by Bittrex. Others have lost sizeable investments through unauthorized and mysterious trades done on their Bittrex accounts without their knowledge.
It was fascinating to see that these complaints are a constant occurrence throughout their Facebook feed. I wanted to screenshot every one of them. However, it would have taken me a few weeks at least. Yes, that long is the list of Bittrex customers who have been duped out of their hard-earned money through this sad excuse of a crypto exchange called Bittrex.
Still, I had to share something with you all, to warn you and possibly prevent you from meeting with a similar fate by trusting Bittrex. So, here are the screenshots of some of the most recent customer complaints on the Bittrex Facebook page. It’s a sad sight to see people being duped out of their money and more so on such a large scale.
They say that there’s no smoke without fire. Based on my experience in life, I can attest to the fact that it is often true. Suppose there are so many people with what looks like legitimate complaints and concerns to do with the Bittrex platform. In that case, it is only prudent to conclude that there’s something fishy going on with Bittrex, its operations, and the people behind Bittrex.
When I was about to conclude my research on their Facebook page, something peculiar caught my eye. I stumbled upon multiple posts that looked like ads on the Bittrex Facebook page, placed by the Bittrex team itself. In these posts, the Bittrex customers were asked to send .3 to 3 BTC to a particular crypto wallet to participate in a giveaway wherein 3x returns were assured.
Here are the links to the official Bittrex Facebook page and some of the fake profiles being used by scammers (or Bittrex) on Bittrex’s Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/BittrexGlobal/ (Official)
https://www.facebook.com/Bittrex-Global-114419864078164/
https://www.facebook.com/Bittrex-Global-104214305107950/
https://www.facebook.com/Bittrex-Global-115016987350892/
https://www.facebook.com/Bittrex-Global-103846348481018/
https://www.facebook.com/Bitterex-Global-112946770891434/
Such an offer is bound to raise eyebrows. However, I could also see comments from Bittrex customers suggesting that some of them had already participated in the so-called giveaway and doubled or tripled their coins. If something looks and smells like shit, it’s probably shit. I found out later that the ads and the comments were all from fake IDs posing as the official Bittrex page on Facebook and customers of Bittrex.
If Bittrex was so focused on securing its customers and their investments and trades on their platform, why would they allow such fake ads to stay listed on their official Facebook page in the first place? Most of these ads are still live on the Bittrex Facebook page. I’m not sure how many people have fallen for this scam. However, Bittrex doesn’t give a hoot about it.
On another note, why would that be? Why would Bittrex not be worried about its customers’ potential scamming through its own official Facebook page? Why would it not delete the ads and the scam content from its Facebook page? A simple answer could be that Bittrex is the actual organizer of these ads and hence is the true beneficiary of all the proceeds from the scam.
There’s no way to verify the above as a fact. However, it isn’t that farfetched of an idea too. What do you think?
Bittrex Has a Better Business Bureau (BBB) Rating of ‘F’
BBB or Better Business Bureau is a private, nonprofit organization founded in 1912 that helps consumers worldwide find businesses they can trust. The BBB rating system ranks companies on a scale of A+ (most trusted) through F (least trusted or scam). Bittrex has been rated at the very bottom of the trust scale by BBB with a rating of F.
What does this mean for a consumer? An F rating by BBB cements the idea that Bittrex is a shady organization with zero support for its customers, questionable business ethics, and the potential for becoming a full-blown financial scam of the crypto world. The list of complaints that I found on the website of BBB against Bittrex is equally or perhaps even more concerning.
So far, a total of 117 complaints have been registered against Bittrex on the BBB website, with most of them unresolved when writing this article. Now, I always take online complaints with a pinch of salt. However, all of these complaints on the BBB website are from the real Bittrex customers who have furnished their complaint ticket numbers to the BBB team.
Here are the screenshots of some of the claims made by customers who Bittrex and its nefarious activities have trapped. They have lost thousands of coins, deposits, and profits while dealing with Bittrex, and it looks like the only mistake they ever made was to trust the team of Bittrex and their promises.
You can find the list of complaints against Bittrex on BBB here. If you consider opening an account with Bittrex, I insist that you check the link without fail. It will open your eyes to the potential scam that you’re being sucked into, and hopefully, you’ll be able to stop it from happening. Save yourself while you still have time.
Bittrex Is Plagued With Longstanding Legal Issues and Bad History
Bittrex as a crypto exchange has met with many red flags throughout the short number of years of its existence. Serious questions remain unanswered on its integrity time and time again. It looks like Bittrex and its founders are currently being pursued by many customers left with no choice but to seek help from their respective countries’ judiciary.
One of the most significant legal battles headed towards Bittrex is at its home turf, the US. Especially with the Washington Attorney General’s office, as confirmed by some of the online complainants and Bittrex customers, looking into the questionable activities of Bittrex. A significant concern for everyone is the rising number of cases where Bittrex customers have lost their money on the platform for no good reason.
NYDFS Rejects Bittrex
The New York Department of Financial Services found many discrepancies in how Bittrex was running its cryptocurrency exchange and hence rejected its license to operate in New York. Within the letter issued by NYDFS to Bittrex, it raises some serious issues and areas of concern. One of them is the lack of measures to prevent money laundering and cheating on Bittrex’s platform.
The NYDFS also found that the Bittrex employees were not at all trained to be involved in a serious business to do with financial services. Bittrex facilitated token launches without any due diligence putting the end-users and its customers at grave financial risk. Alarmingly, NYDFS found that some tokens were being traded on Bittrex even without any application on file or incomplete applications. So much for being the “safest cryptocurrency exchange in the world.”
Bittrex was issued a cease and desist order in 2019 and asked to wind off their business operations in New York within 14 days. The NYDFS also wanted Bittrex to return all its New York customers’ investments without stealing or taking away even a single dime from them within 60 days.
While the NYDFS came as a savior for the New York investors and traders and helped them from being duped by Bittrex, the Bittrex founders devised a new way to steal more money. They did this by opening a new company called Bittrex Global. I’ll discuss this in more detail below. For now, let’s continue with the legal issues to do with Bittrex.
Angel Investor Gregg Bennett Sues Bittrex for Fraud
In April 2019, Bittrex found itself in another problematic and damaging situation. Serial investor and businessman Gregg Bennett filed a lawsuit against Washington-based Bittrex for allowing scammers to hack into his Bittrex account and steal BTC worth one million US dollars. The suit concerning the questionable activities of Bittrex describes it as “unfair and deceptive acts that misrepresented its level of security.”
The allegations made by Gregg are very much in line with the findings of the NYDFS as well. So, Bittrex as a platform is not even near to being secure is very much proven now. All those tall claims of being the best in the cryptocurrency exchange space are just that and used by Bittrex for luring in more and more unsuspecting investors and traders to its platform.
Gregg has also alleged that upon discovering the hackers and the loss of funds from his Bittrex account, he had made several attempts to reach Bittrex and see if they can do something about it. However, Bittrex ignored these attempts for nearly 4-5 hours, and that helped the hackers to steal the money without any resistance and get away with it.
An important thing to note here is that if someone like Gregg Bennett, an HNI and a big-time investor, was mistreated by Bittrex like this, what should the average consumer expect from Bittrex and its team. Knowing it now, it somehow makes sense as to why so many Bittrex customers are being left unattended by Bittrex with no regard to their concerns.
“I am going to do everything I can to hold Bittrex accountable for their actions, so other people aren’t victims of similar negligence.”
~ Gregg Bennett
The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) Adds Bittrex Global to Investor Alert List
In one of the latest setbacks to Bittrex, the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) found Bittrex to be carrying out unregulated activities in the country. It found that Bittrex is using clones on Facebook to dupe innocent investors and customers through offering bogus promises of high returns. I have already shown you examples of how this is being done on Bittrex’s official Facebook page.
In light of these facts, the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC), in January of 2021, decided to add Bittrex to its investor alert list of unauthorized websites, investment products, companies, and individuals. It is a clear warning to all Malaysian citizens to stay away from Bittrex and not end up losing their hard-earned money on the Bittrex platform.
Click here to see the complete investor alert list.
Bittrex Willingly Hosts Scams on Its Platform
Bittrex has, not once but many times, openly supported scammers on its platform. Over the years, the number of scammers who have benefitted from their partnership with Bittrex has only increased. Some of the cryptocurrency scams that ran on Bittrex and successfully stole money from the Bittrex consumers are Nebula, Ninja, Sparta, Elite, and USBcoin.
USBcoin, for example, got away with close to 4 million US dollars in stolen money from the unsuspecting users of Bittrex within hours of its launch on the platform. When the investors and the media tried talking to Bittrex, one of the company founders, Rami, was quick to dismiss any responsibility on Bittrex’s end and instead blamed the investors for falling for such traps hoping for massive returns. Now, isn’t that such a confidence-inspiring response from the Bittrex representative? Perhaps that is the “human face” promised by Bittrex on their website, full of deceit and deception.
Is Bittrex Out to Scam the World in the Garb of Bittrex Global?
When the whole fiasco with the NYDFS unfolded, and Bittrex was asked to pack its bags and exit New York state within a matter of days, the Bittrex as a company took a massive hit on its reputation. Bittrex was hoping to use its New York existence as proof of its being a legitimate crypto exchange. However, that had quickly blown on their face.
So, like any good scammer, the Bittrex team got back to the drawing board and started to work on a plan of giving a new identity and base of operations to Bittrex that will allow it to continue its operations worldwide. What was the next stop for Bittrex then? Liechtenstein. Yes, that’s right, Liechtenstein, the country known as a billionaire tax haven, is now home to Bittrex Global.
Liechtenstein was once a part of the official blacklists of uncooperative tax haven countries. It was only evident that the Bittrex team would find itself at home in Liechtenstein where they could do anything they want, make as many investors suffer, and steal as much as possible. The whole background of Bittrex Global is a tad bit suspicious to ignore.
Bittrex Global is listed on the main Bittrex website under its team page. You can also find all the other entities created by Bittrex to target investors from specific world geographies. What caught my eye was that the only logo on this page that isn’t linked to its website is Bittrex Global. While all the other symbols lead to their website on the internet, the Bittrex Global logo would take you to their Twitter feed instead.
Often one can ignore such errors. However, when it has to do with a tech company calling itself to be the best and whatnot, you must realize that there’s something more in there than meets the eye. I, based on all of my findings, now firmly believe that Bittrex is a company that values profits over ethical behavior. It would do anything to ensure that money invested on its various platforms stays with Bittrex for as long as possible in the hopes of seizing a sizeable chunk away under one pretext or the other.
Suppose you’re a cryptocurrency investor or simply an enthusiast. In that case, it’s my opinion that companies like Bittrex are not necessarily the ones you may want to make investments in, even if the promised returns were accurate. The reasons for that have been discussed in this investigative article already. They should be enough of an indicator to hopefully save all of us from losing our money on Bittrex and such cryptocurrency exchanges.
Other sources that may be of interest to you:
https://coinrivet.com/es/bittrex-sued-for-allegedly-failing-to-prevent-1-million-bitcoin-theft/
https://www.coindesk.com/bittrex-poloniex-sued-tether-bitcoin-manipulation
https://coingeek.com/steem-holders-file-lawsuit-vs-bittrex-to-get-their-money-back/
https://www.trustpilot.com/review/bittrex.com
https://www.reddit.com/r/Bittrex/comments/7igzmd/bittrex_has_turned_to_a_scam_beware_people/
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1954598.0
https://icorating.com/index.php/bittrex/reviews/scam-168470/
https://cherven.eu/express-rate/bittrex-automated-maintenance-scam-cryptocurrency-exchanges/
https://news.bitcoin.com/bittrex-customers-locked-out-are-crypto-exchanges-ready-for-bitcoin/
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/21/confido-ico-exit-scam-founders-run-away-with-375k.html
https://forum.nem.io/t/bitrex-exchange-scammers-solved/8683
https://www.businessinsider.com/ico-cryptocurrency-pump-and-dump-telegram-2017-11
https://www.reddit.com/r/Bittrex/comments/mimr6c/488784_seriously_i_wait_now_4_weeks_for_50k/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Bittrex/comments/mhz8ov/support_ticket_453976_this_is_ridicolous/
https://medium.com/bittrexglobal/royal-welcome-for-bittrex-global-in-vaduz-60c1f18d3859
