Over 50% of spot trading pairs on Poloniex appear to be ‘dead’

Poloniex’s
exchange
data
seen
by
crypto.news
displays
what
appears
to
be
a
partially
abandoned
platform,
with
over
500
trading
pairs
showing
no
trading
volume.

Cryptocurrency
exchange

Poloniex,
acquired
by
Justin
Sun
in
2019,
demonstrates
a
concerned
lack
of
activity
as
the
majority
of
all
spot
trading
pairs
listed
on
it
barely
have
any
trades
at
all.

According
to
the
exchange’s
data
for
spot
trading
pairs
which
displays
stats
for
the
past
24
hours,
521
trading
pairs
out
of
981
showed
less
than
$1
or
even
$0
in
daily
trading
volume
as
of
May
13,
accounting
for
approximately
53%
of
all
pairs
listed
on
the
exchange.

Further
analysis
of
the
data
highlights
a
substantial
reliance
on
USDT,
the
stablecoin
issued
by

Tether,
with
810
pairs
on
Poloniex
tied
to
USDT,
representing
almost
83%
of
all
spot
trading
pairs.
For
comparison,
there
are
only
eight
spot
trading
pairs
with
Ethereum
(ETH)
and
72
with
Bitcoin
(BTC)
on
the
exchange,
representing
approximately
0.816%
and
7.34%
respectively.

Poloniex’s
heavy
reliance
on
USDT
raises
concerns,
particularly
in
light
of
recent

statements
made
by

Ripple
CEO
Brad
Garlinghouse
regarding
potential
regulatory
scrutiny
on
Tether.
And
even
though
Tether
head
Paolo
Ardoino
dismissed
these
rumors,
implying
they’re
just
a
FUD
made
in
an
effort
to
shake
the
company’s
position
in
the
market,
Poloniex
could
still
potentially
find
itself
in
hot
water
should
things
around
USDT
go
south.

Given
the
absence
of
a
USDT/USD
trading
pair
on
the
platform,
a
surge
in
USDT
withdrawals
prompted
by
regulatory
pressure
could
potentially
impact
Poloniex’s
operations
in
case
of
a
theoretical
bank
run.
As
of
the
time
of
writing,
Crypto.news
reached
out
to
Poloniex
for
comment;
however,
no
response
has
been
received
yet.
We’ll
update
this
article
if
we
hear
back.