Crypto Industry Rocked by Wave of Shutdowns and Layoffs in July

The crypto industry witnessed a significant shake-up in July, with six platforms either filing for bankruptcy or announcing their shutdowns within a span of three weeks. This includes Movement Labs, Storj Labs, BitMEX, BitMart, Zapper, and AscendEX, which ceased operations due to various reasons such as market-making scandals, liquidity issues, and regulatory challenges.

Movement Labs filed for Chapter 11 on July 15, listing under $500,000 in assets against liabilities of up to $10 million. The company's CEO, Torab Torabi, clarified that the bankruptcy does not affect Move Industries, which operates normally. Storj Labs followed suit, filing Chapter 11 on July 26 and proposing to give STORJ token holders a stake in the reorganized business.

BitMEX announced its closure on July 23, citing the difficulty of continuing operations. New registrations stopped immediately, with trading winding down in stages through August before a full shutdown on September 23. BitMart also announced its wind-down just three days later, making it the second exchange to close in under a week.

Zapper, a DeFi portfolio tracker that processed $13 billion in transaction volume for over 2 million monthly users, is winding down on August 3 after nearly seven years. The team evaluated different options and concluded an orderly shutdown was the right call.