The Investigators at the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions (DFI) has withdrawn from backing the Gregg Bennett's lawsuit against local cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex, according to a <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/business/technology/state-reverses-ruling-on-cryptocurrency-exchange-sued-by-bellevue-venture-capitalist/">report</a> today by The Seattle Times.

The Bellevue venture capitalist, Gregg Bennett, filed a lawsuit against Bittrex, claiming the <a href="https://www.cryptoknowmics.com/crypto/bittrex-suspends-operations-in-venezuela/">exchange</a> allowed hackers to steal $1 million in Bitcoin from his account. 

According to Bennett's court filings, he emailed the exchange to freeze up his account after he learned that hackers siphoned away 70 Bitcoin from the account. Unfortunately, Bittrex was so slow to respond to his request at that time, according to him.

In this course, the hackers again, made away with 30 more Bitcoin, making a total of 100 Bitcoin stolen from his account, before the company took action.

After DFI investigated the matter in August 2019, they concluded that Bittrex "did not take reasonable steps" to protect his account from fraud. 

In a letter sent to Bennett, detailing the outcome of the investigation at that time, DFI wrote:

"It appears Bittrex violated the Uniform Money Services Act for engaging in an unfair or deceptive act by failing to adhere to its Terms of Service."
<h2>Bittrex Pronounced Innocent </h2>
However, today, Investigators at the state DFI have alerted the company about the reversal of there earlier ruling for allegedly violating state banking rules. 

According to the report, the regulator's previous ruling was drawn from the timestamps, which indicated that Bennett emailed Bittrex freeze his account two hours before the hackers stole the last 30 Bitcoin. 

The investigator's initial ruling did not recognize the fact that Bittrex's cryptocurrency transactions are stamped in Coordinated Universal Time. That's seven hours ahead of Pacific Daylight Time, which is the time zone in which Bennett sent his emails.

Having considered the timestamps, the agency concluded that Bennett had actually requested his account frozen, five hours after the hackers were done with there mission. Hence, the exchange is free from the accusation.

Despite the reverse, Bennett said he's still suing, per the report. Bittrex, he said, "let a bad guy into the building and didn't send anyone to patrol the corridors," and DFI's new finding of no-fault, "doesn't affect anything I do."

Washington DFI Reverses Ruling Against Bittrex in $1 Million Bitcoin Theft

Ibiam Wayas is an optimistic crypto news reporter who also enjoys tech writing. He is an introvert who spends much of his time on the internet studying facts that will help him excel in the digital/cryptocurrency space.

Washington DFI Reverses Ruling Against Bittrex in $1 Million Bitcoin Theft

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