The online service provided by the exchange house was not available for about seven hours. The CoinMarketCap index warned users that they should exercise caution regarding their funds.
The website of the cryptocurrency exchange house Bitinka remained offline for at least seven hours on Wednesday, September 11th, which gave rise to great uncertainty among its users. It is worth noting that they have been demanding for months that the funds that they keep on this exchange platform be unlocked and returned.
The level of tension increased even more because the parent companies of the Bitinka brand, Inka Ventures or InkaPayments, did not announce the fall of their platform through any of their channels. The news about the temporary cessation of operations was not released on either their website or their Twitter, blog, Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn accounts.
The interruption of the service of Bitinka without any public notification was interpreted by users as an act with an aura of mystery in which there was no official information. One of the concerned users, Francisco Pulido, reported from Colombia that the platform was no longer available, that is, it was closed. In addition, he said that since February 2019 Bitinka has retained all the fiat and cryptocurrency assets of its users.
Another of those affected, who has claimed the withholding of his funds and sued Bitinka, is Federico Gastón Bernini, who pointed directly to Benites about what he has been forced to experience. He said that users had been expecting this situation to happen. Besides, he complained about Roger Benites, who has allegedly opened other societies seeking to discard Bitinka’s responsibilities. He considers that the illegal actions performed by individuals like Benites are more than obvious.
CoinMarketCap Reflected the Fault
The situation with Bitinka was recorded by the cryptocurrency and token index CoinMarketCap (CMC). The portal reflected in its section dedicated to this startup, originally from Peru, that it had not received information for 25 hours. Besides, it noted that the exchange house did not provide any data on the exchanged volumes or the most traded Bitcoin pairs among its operators.
Once the Bitinka platform was lifted, the information began to update on the website. However, CoinMarketCap published a message in which it warned about reports that indicate alleged difficulties in withdrawing funds from this exchange house.
CoinMarketCap indicated that it had received reports that user withdrawals may be hampered, so it warned Bitinka’s users to be careful with their funds. It is not clear if this warning was released before what happened on Wednesday, September 11th, or if it is a consequence derived from the interruption of the service.
It should be mentioned that Bitinka has been accused by dozens of users that claim that the platform has frozen their funds and blocked their cryptocurrency accounts. In Argentina, for example, there is a lawsuit against the parent company for US $ 417,000 in process. In its defense, Bitinka has said that users have taken advantage of an internal failure of its service, which has generated unrecognized profits for them.
By Willmen Blanco
