FTX Has European License Suspended by Cyprus Regulator: Report

Cryptocurrency exchange FTX has had its license in Cyprus suspended by the jurisdiction's securities regulator following a liquidity crunch that prompted a withdrawal freeze, according to a Bloomberg report.

FTX secured approval for its domain www.ftx.com/eu from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) in March after acquiring local firm K-DNA Financial Services LTD. The entity was later re-named FTX EU LTD. In September, FTX EU said it had secured a CySEC license to operate as a Cyprus investment firm.

The exchange said at the time that the CySEC license enabled it to "serve the whole European Economic Area" which includes the EU as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

After a liquidity crunch triggered the collapse of the multi-billion dollar crypto enterprise, headquartered in the Bahamas, it had its assets frozen by the country's securities regulator on Thursday as the regulator aims to “preserve assets and stabilize the company.”

The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission did not immediately respond to CoinDesk's request for comment.

UPDATE (Nov. 11, 11:59 UTC): Adds more detail throughout.

CORRECTION (Nov. 11, 11:45 UTC): Correct headline and story with correct attribution. Corrects headline to say Europe and corrects timeline in second graph.