Leading digital currency exchange Bitfinex has announced that it is pulling its services away from the U.S. retail marketplace due to challenging regulatory landscape.

The company said that it has stopped accepting verification requests for U.S. individuals. In addition, it will bar U.S. customers from trading ERC20 tokens issued through ICOs, effective August 16, 2017.

“[O]ver the next 90 days, we will be discontinuing services to our existing U.S. individual customers. We will be communicating further with affected users on timing and specifics. Our intention is to reduce disruption as much as possible for our U.S. customers”, Bitfinex said.

It said that it had been considering this move for some time now and outlined the reasons that led it to it. Bitfinex said that a considerable portion of its resources goes into servicing the needs of U.S. individuals, including support, legal and regulatory. It added:

“We anticipate the regulatory landscape to become even more challenging in the future.

“Bitfinex is not based in the United States. Exchanges based in the U.S. are better positioned to properly service retail U.S. customers.”

The exchange further said that while it has normalized banking for some corporate customers and individuals in certain jurisdictions, compliant banking solutions for US-based individuals remain “elusive”.

“We have been slowly and selectively inviting users in particular jurisdictions who meet set criteria to start using banking channels that have come online. This process is ongoing,” it added.

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