Will Today’s Scheduled Bitfinex Update Affect the Bitcoin Price?

Biitfinex will be down for a few hours and many are already speculating what the reason could be. A ‘system upgrade’ is planned for the entire Bitfinex ecosystem — affecting even Ethfinex as well. During this time, traders will be “unable to trade, view, or obtain access to their wallets during the update,” the announcement reads.  Whereas any Bitfinex downtime would’ve surely affected the cryptocurrency market just a year or so ago, the exchange’s influence has dwindled since then. Boasting around $73M in daily trading volume at the time of writing, the exchange has been bogged down by accusations of shady behavior. This only became worse after the New York Attorney General waged a legal battle over Bitfinex’s alleged Tether-related fraud. As of now, the decision for that court case is still pending. If one wants to better understand market sentiments towards Bitfinex, just look at its own token called LEO. Binance held an Initial exchange offering (IEO) for its own token called UNUS SED LEO to make up for the legal costs incurred and possible penalties. Raising some $1B during the IEO, it has decreased some -40% since June and is currently trading at $1.14. Overall, it seems that Bitfinex’s downtime won’t hurt the Bitcoin markets much if at all considering the exchange’s diminishing influence. However, Tether still holds the entire cryptocurrency market in its current tenuous balance. Therefore, anytime there’s a ‘maintenance’ for Bitfinex, we should pay attention: something might be happening which should merit a closer look. Do you believe that Bitfinex’s momentary shutdown will affect the cryptocurrency market in any way? Let us know your thoughts below in the comments.