Invoking low liquidity, the digital assets and crypto trading platform Bitfinex announces that it’s going to delist more than 87 of its trading pairs starting next week.

The move indicates an increased competition in the market, especially within the altcoin space, which can lead to greater volatility. Some altoins will only lose their Ethereum (ETH), or Bitcoin (BTC) pairing, while others will be completely dropped from the exchange.

Bitfinex, known for its vast selection of altcoins to trade against BTC/ETH helped it to achieve its success early on. However, it has witnessed a substantial drop in volume in the last 2 years. It has lost its popularity as one of the top exchanges in the market, especially for newcomers.

Removing the coins that aren’t performing as well as they once did is only logical. This change will improve and consolidate liquidity, which would further lead to a more optimized and streamlined trading experience for Bitfinex users.

This move may not come as a surprise to most crypto traders, the exchange dropped out of the ranking as a top exchange when users became skeptical about the financial situation between the exchange and its sister company, Tether.  So much so that the NYAG filed a suit against them.

While the cryptocurrency space is becoming more and more mainstream, the Bitfinex’s position is unsustainable. Not only popular among traders and having a large trading pair selection, but Binance has also worked to comply with governmental laws and regulators, not to mention it offers transparency when it comes to operations. This is the reason why it has shown so much growth lately.

This delisting is not the only one in the altcoin space as of late. Many crypto enthusiasts said platforms are going to fail at some point, so being cut by exchanges is just the beginning.

Earlier this year Bittrex and Poloniex have also dropped their alts that weren’t performing so well. The challenge for projects isn't to only have a high market cap or to be listed but to implement the adoption and use of blockchain technology, which is a criterion most altcoins won’t meet.

You can find the full list of pairs here.

Cleanup should be good for Bitcoin. :)

— Gabor Gurbacs (@gaborgurbacs) March 20, 2020

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