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The cryptocurrency industry is still grappling with the legal implications of the initial coin offering (ICO) trend of 2017.
Two years after the token boom, the value of Bancor’s BNT token is in the dumps – sinking from $4.49 in July 2017 to an all-time low last week of $0.44, according to CoinMarketCap.
Yet, the project’s main investors are still holding.
For example, Yoni Assia, CEO of the crypto exchange eToro, described the $153 million Bancor ICO as a “pivotal” moment for the industry and told CoinDesk he is holding BNT because he believes in the team.
The Bancor platform, which provides quick liquidity for niche ERC-20 tokens by using BNT as a market-making reserve currency for all assets on the network, has routinely attracted 100-250 traders a week, according to Etherscan’s tally of BNT token transactions.
The trouble is, there are still legal questions surrounding many of the assets traded on the Bancor platform. This may be part of the reason the startup issued a new policy as of July 8, barring Americans from the platform due to “increased regulatory uncertainty.” (Bancor declined to offer comment for this article.)
One anonymous American Bancor user told CoinDesk he was “very disappointed” he can no longer use his BNT because the platform is now restricted in the U.S.
Traders have used the platform primarily to find arbitrage opportunities for assets like ether and EOS, several traders told CoinDesk, in addition to more niche offerings. For example, Michael Safai of the San Francisco-based fund Dexterity Capital, told CoinDesk his firm used Bancor for arbitrage strategies last year.
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