Crypto exchanges go down across the world as bitcoin, ethereum prices plunge

Bitcoin | Image: Shutterstock

Cryptocurrency exchange outages were reported not just in India but globally following a crash in crypto assets including bitcoin and ethereum on May 19.

Exchanges gave a mix of reasons for outages after angry users and traders reported difficulty in trading their digital assets. Voyager,  a crypto asset broker in the US, said that exchange outages were due to market volatility and connectivity issues. The Voyager app went into a temporary maintenance mode.

We are closely monitoring and working to ensure our systems and exchange connectivity will be available as soon as possible. We will provide additional updates as soon as we can.

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We appreciate your patience.

Thank you

— Voyager (@investvoyager) May 19, 2021

Bitcoin's price fell over 30 percent on May 19, significantly reducing the market value as a bearish sentiment took over the market. The downward surge took the price of Bitcoin below $31,000. The biggest cryptocurrency by market value had once recorded an all-time high of $64,829.14, according to CoinDesk.

Etherium also tanked more than 23 percent, according to CoinDesk, recording a 24 hour high of $3,477 and a low of $2,089.

Also read: Are cryptocurrencies short-term speculative bets or long-term investments?

CoinBase, another American exchange platform, reported "intermittent downtime". People also faced delays in ETH and ERC-20 withdrawals. However, CoinBase said the issue was later resolved.

Binance US also that users were facing delays in ETH & ERC-20 and withdrawals may experience delays. The company said it resolved the issue but had temporarily increased the withdrawal transaction fee "to account for the current gas prices."

$ETH and ERC20 withdrawals have been resumed.

Withdrawal fees have been temporarily raised to account for the current gas prices.

— Binance (@binance) May 19, 2021

Bitstamp, a bitcoin exchange in Luxemburg, tweeted that it was experiencing issues with FIX API. "We are working on resolving this and we will keep you updated. Thank you for your patience," it said.

Also read: Cryptocurrency bloodbath: Here's what you need to know

Indian crypto exchanges, including WazirX, one of India’s largest cryptocurrency trading platforms, also reported a crash that took an hour to get resolved.

We're working on a fix for the issues related to WazirX app/website and will update you as soon as it's back up.

Thank you for your patience.