One of South Africa’s oldest cryptocurrency exchanges, ICE3x, has issued a statement to all users that they have immediately halted trading. The reasons behind the halting are not clear, besides the stated “discrepancies in balances”. What caused these discrepancies has not been determined, nor has it been communicated to the public or press.
Global Crypto reached out to ICE3x CEO, Gareth Grobler, regarding the statement, who said that he is unable to comment further on the situation at hand.
He did however say that “he won’t be running to Brazil” in a nod to the MTI scam, whereby MTI CEO, Johann Steynberg, allegedly fled to Brazil with billions of Rands worth of crypto.
Grobler further stated that the situation “is a tough one” and that he will be as transparent as possible with the public.
The statement issued by Grobler to all ICE3x users refers to their partners “Merkeleon.com” and “Coinspaid.com“. Merkeleon provides technical infrastructure to crypto exchanges, with ICE3x making up part of its portfolio of exchanges.
According to Blocknews Africa, Grobler is a managing partner at Merkeleon, and if such information is true, it would at least provide confidence to ICE3x users with funds on the exchange that Grobler and ICE3x would be incentivised to resolve the issue as soon as possible.
Grobler’s willingness to talk with Global Crypto provides additional assurance that the issue is indeed being adequately investigated, albeit without the knowledge of the issue itself.
ICE3x was founded by Grobler in 2013, and has seen several iterations throughout its lengthy history.
Global Crypto will report when more information becomes available.
The full statement issued to all ICE3x users reads as follows (SIC):
Dear Trader,
It has come to our attention that there are discrepancies in the balances pertaining to Bitcoin and Litecoin we hold on the platform. After consultation and deliberation with our partner Merkeleon.com and their subsidiary Coinspaid.com, we have not been able to reach a satisfactory conclusion. On the advice of our legal & auditing team, we have suspended all Deposits & Trading. Furthermore, we have suspended BTC (bitcoin) and LTC (litecoin) withdrawals with immediate effect, pending the outcome of a full investigation and reconciliation. This is being done for the protection of all clients.
Currently, clients who hold any other currency (excluding Bitcoin & Litecoin) on the platform will be still able to withdraw their funds. We urge you to do so as soon as possible.
Should the domain/email/service desk become unavailable as a result of 3rd party actions, we will engage via our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ICE3X
We apologize for the inconvenience caused and will update you with progress throughout.
Yours Sincerely
GC Grobler
Director
Internet Currency Evolution Cubed (PTY) Ltd
