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Susquehanna-backed crypto lender BlockFills has halted withdrawals and restricted trading on its platform, underscoring the strength of the recent tremors that have shaken the digital asset market.
The Chicago-based company, which in 2025 handled $60bn in trading volumes, has suspended client deposits and withdrawals as the price of bitcoin and other crypto assets has swung in recent days. The suspension was put in place last week but remains in effect, BlockFills told the FT.
BlockFills acts as a liquidity provider and lender to about 2,000 institutional clients, including crypto-focused hedge funds and asset managers, according to its website. Its options products are only available to investors with digital currency holdings of $10mn or more.
BlockFills’ decision to lock up clients’ money comes three years after the crypto market’s last major downturn, which triggered a series of failures at lenders across the industry that culminated in the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto exchange FTX.
Groups including Celsius, BlockFi, Vauld, Genesis and Voyager all suspended withdrawals ahead of their collapse during the so-called crypto winter of 2022, when rising US interest rates fuelled a slump across global risk assets that erased almost 70 per cent of the crypto market’s value.
A BlockFills spokesperson said: “In light of recent market and financial conditions, and to further the protection of clients and the firm, BlockFills took the action last week of temporarily suspending client deposits and withdrawals.
“Clients have been able to continue trading with BlockFills for the purpose of opening and closing positions in spot and derivatives trading and select other circumstances,” the company continued.
“Management has been working hand in hand with investors and clients to bring this issue to a swift resolution and to restore liquidity to the platform.”
Since starting in 2018, BlockFills’ expansion has been backed by investors including Susquehanna Private Equity Investments and the corporate venture capital arm of CME Group, the world’s largest derivatives exchange. Susquehanna did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the withdrawal suspension at BlockFills. CME declined to comment.
The company’s decision to suspend withdrawals coincided with bitcoin last week dropping below $65,000 for the first time since 2024.
The world’s most valuable cryptocurrency hit a record high of almost $125,000 late last year, buoyed by President Donald Trump’s appointment of industry-friendly regulators, the halting of enforcement actions against crypto companies and the passage of stablecoin rules governing tokens pegged in value to assets including Treasuries and the US dollar.
But since then crypto prices have plunged. Bitcoin has fallen almost 25 per cent this year and by about 45 per cent since its October peak, when Trump’s threat to impose huge extra tariffs on China sparked a broad market sell-off that quickly spread to digital assets.
Billions of dollars of leveraged crypto trades were liquidated on October 10 in the market’s worst-ever one-day sell-off.
Legislation governing the industry in the US has stalled this year, further weighing on sentiment.