Following the exodus of Coinbase and Kraken from Washington State, Poloniex has decided to pull out as well, leaving Washington State residents to either seek residence elsewhere or use Gemini, who recently got approval to operate in the state. A message from Poloniex reads: "After careful consideration of the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions’ interpretation of its financial services regulations, Poloniex will suspend Washington account creation until further notice. For existing Washington customers, you will receive an email with instructions on how to wind down your account." Continue reading at: https://news.bitcoin.com/washingtons-bitcoin-exchange-regulations-become-active/
As much as it saddens me that Poloniex ceased operations for Washington state residents, I never expected to see them come back. But the reasons I saw them pulling out were because of the unfair laws they had to abide by, requiring them to hold an equal number of assets to match their users, which is absurd given that banks are only required to hold 10% of their customer's funds. I did not see them pulling out because of this part of the legislation: That part of the law doesn't bother me at all. That's a good thing, and it shouldn't be that much of an inconvenience to do business in Washington state, especially given the volatility of this market and the track record we have seen exchanges go under leaving customers with nothing. The cryptocurrency exchange, Gemini, has gone through the necessary approvals and has been granted approval and license for Washington state. Poloniex could do the same if they were committed to playing ball with all 50 state laboratories we have in this country.
Agreed. You would think a big exchange like Poloniex would want to expand their customer base rather than give up on it. More customers means more transaction fees. As for WA, I agree that it's ludicrous to impose higher standards on crypto exchanges than on backing institutions, particularly seeing how banks don't even loan their own money; they loan other people's money.
