GDAX Investigates ETH/USD Issues, Ethereum Network Continues to Suffer

Things have started to somewhat unravel for Ethereum as of late. The network is slowing down to the influx of ICOs. Moreover, it now appears the GDAX exchange ad to halt ETH trading for quite some time. Interestingly enough, the platform also saw an ETH price flash crash last night. It is evident the market is making its voice be heard. The bigger question is how things will play out for Ethereum moving forward.

Ethereum Woes Continue

Ethereum holders are getting quite antsy right now, for obvious reasons. The network is suffering from issues for quite some time now. The recent multi-million dollar ICOs are causing major transaction issues. It will take several days, if not weeks until the network goes back to normal. Even yesterday’s Civic ICO was problematic to get into due to the Ethereum network slowing down several times. It is evident something will need to change in this regard.

To make matters even worse, the GDAX exchange had issues with Ethereum as well. Multiple exchanges froze ETH trading yesterday afternoon. GDAX joined that list last night, as the ETH-USD market show some unusual developments. More specifically, some trader[s] successfully flash crashed the price to double digits. That is rather unusual, to say the least. It was not a graphical glitch on the charts either, as some people buy orders were effectively filled.

GDAX Has an Ether Fire Sale

It is good to see GDAX investigate this issue, though. This does not mean some orders will be rolled back. Margin traders have lost a tonne of money due to this flash crash, that much is evident. A rapid price movement in a fiat currency-linked trading market is very unusual. Once the issue was reported, GDAX halted all margin funding for this pair. Additionally, the company was forced to halt ETH/USD trading altogether shortly after. It took a few hours to resume the service, though. Right now margin funding is still disabled for this market.

A lot of people are not too happy about this recent string of developments. With the Ethereum network slowing down, ICOs being “elite partners only” clubs, and exchanges halting ETH trading, things are not looking all that great. Finding a solution for all of these problems will be quite challenging. It is evident Ether is not a store of value. Nor is the Ethereum ecosystem “better’ at scaling than Bitcoin. It will be interesting to see how things will play out over the coming months.