Bitstamp and KuCoin pause Ethereum withdraw due to overloads

The official Twitter accounts of Bitstamp and KuCoin suggest that both cryptocurrency exchanges paused the function of Ethereum withdrawal, with KuCoin even stating “we'd recommend users to proceed withdrawal by transferring ETH to NEO”, which to some cryptocurrency traders may seem like a market manipulation. Both currencies are extremely similar and NEO is sometimes even called the Chinese Ethereum.

The main reason of this pause was the overload of the blockchain of Ethereum, tell both exchanges. This might be true, as the number of transactions in this network has lately increased dramatically, from 519 thousand during the last autumn to 1.34 million in January 2018. Bitstamp, however, decided not to advise migrating to other altcoins and instead, did something which allowed to relaunch the withdrawals relatively soon - after a few hours after disabling them.

Current Ethereum’s price on Coinmarketcap is $1,064.20. While it lately plunged from almost $1,500 (simultaneously with the overall market drop), this is still a big number for a coin which cost only $750 during the first day of January.