Cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex Inc. today filed for bankruptcy less than a month after being charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission with operating an unlicensed securities exchange.

In its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in the Delaware Federal Court, the exchange said it had more than 100,000 creditors, with estimated liabilities and assets of between $500 million and $1 billion. Bittrex had already ceased trading in the U.S. on April 30, and the bankruptcy filing extends only to the U.S. business, not Bittrex Global, which continues to provide services to customers outside the U.S.

In a statement today, Bittrex noted that customer funds remain safe and that its main priority is to ensure that customers “are made whole.” Since the company has now filed for bankruptcy, customers who had not already withdrawn their cryptocurrency holdings as of when the exchange closed on April 30, having been given ample opportunity to do so, will now have to wait until the Bankruptcy Court decides how outstanding amounts can be claimed and distributed.

“We intend to ask the court to activate those accounts as soon as possible so that customers meeting the necessary regulatory requirements will be able to withdraw them,” the company noted.

Bittrex launched in 2014 and rose to be one of the top 50 cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. The company is believed to have generated $1.3 billion in revenue between 2017 and 2022.

The bankruptcy does not affect the SEC case against Bittrex, which alleges that it ran an unregistered securities exchange and operated as an unregistered broker and clearing agency.

The SEC is also pursuing a related case against former Chief Executive Officer William Shihara, who, along with co-founding Bittrex served as its CEO from 2014 to 2019. An affiliated company, Bittrex Global GmbH, was also charged, with the SEC claiming that Bittrex Global and Bittrex used a shared order book.

Bittrex is not the only cryptocurrency exchange being pursued by the SEC. The agency warned Coinbase Global Inc. in March that some of its cryptocurrency services may violate U.S. securities law. In January, charges were also filed against Genesis Global Capital LLC and Gemini Trust Co. LLC, alleging that the companies were illegally selling securities through a joint cryptocurrency lending program.

Image: Bittrex