Rumours were spreading about the HitBTC exchange blocking BTC withdrawals, mainly due to the Proof of Keys event that took place these days.
The rumour, spread by some posts on Reddit, had also been reflected in the online media and even John McAfee had taken up the news with a Twitter post calling for a boycott of the exchange, guilty of having an exorbitant power.
It seems that this rumour is not true, or at least not a major event.
HitBTC shows on its website that bitcoin withdrawals and deposits are working regularly:
Obviously these data could be biased because they come from the exchange itself, but there have also been some checks from the outside, for example, the HitBTC wallets show withdrawals at least until 27/12/2018.
In addition, one of the two people who reported the problem on Reddit got a response from HitBTC saying that his problem would have been related to the KYC procedure.
The withdrawal control procedure by the exchange is quite complex and requires confirmation on an ad hoc link sent to the email address within an hour, so if you have not received this email or you have ignored it, the withdrawal does not occur.
On the other hand, it is also possible that some addresses have been blocked or have not been whitelisted by the exchange, therefore those addresses could not have been used for withdrawals.
This means that there does not seem to be a general block, but there may have been some misunderstandings, even significant, perhaps for withdrawals of large amounts.
If, on the other hand, the reports continue, the situation could become more dangerous, but the hope is that we will not reach the point of questioning the solvency of the exchange.
