Coinbase is suspending trading of Bitcoin Cash due to an insider trading probe.
The insider trading probe was revealed by Coinbase co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong. He says that the company is looking into volatile trading of the virtual currency shortly before and after its launch on the website.
Armstrong notes that Coinbase has strict confidentiality policies and doesn’t allow for insider trading. He also points out that this was stressed to employees in the month leading up to Bitcoin Cash’s launch on the platform.
Armstrong says that his goal to to make Coinbase the easiest to use digital currency exchange that customers trust the most. As such, he is taking the investigation into insider trading extremely seriously.
“Given the price increase in the hours leading up the announcement, we will be conducting an investigation into this matter,” the Coinbase CEO said in a blog post. “If we find evidence of any employee or contractor violating our policies — directly or indirectly — I will not hesitate to terminate the employee immediately and take appropriate legal action.”
Coinbase’s Global Digital Asset Exchange (GDAX) also announced the suspension of Bitcoin Cash trading via its Twitter Inc (NYSE:
TWTR) account. This also had it canceling all resting orders and clearing order books for Bitcoin Cash. The exchange did this to ensure a “fair and orderly market.”
GDAX notes that trading of the cryptocurrency is expected to resume at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time today. The initial pause occurred at 5:22 p.m. Pacific Time on Dec. 19, 2017.
As of this writing, William White did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
