Regulation forces Tradehill Bitcoin exchange to suspend all trading

Bitcoin exchange Tradehill has suspended its platform indefinitely.

Over the weekend, Tradehill entered into a trading halt, freezing all trades while it deals with "banking and regulatory issues". In an explanatory note on its website, the platform said that the decision was not made lightly, and that it regrets having to take such action.

The San Francisco outfit has experienced a number of issues since its initial launch in 2011. At the time, it was the second-largest Bitcoin exchange in the world, but it closed its doors in January 2012, according to the company. This was due to the loss of its payment network partner Paxum.

Paxum's withdrawal from dealings with Tradehill meant that the trading platform had to return all client funds while it raised funds and looked to solve its payment licensing issues.

"Due to increasing regulation, Tradehill cannot operate in its current capacity without proper money transmission licensing," company CEO Jered Kenna wrote at the time.

It relaunched in March 2013, after receiving $400,000 in seed funding from angel investors, and within its first month, it executed over $1 million in Bitcoin trades.

The company plans to use its current downtime to make improvements to its trading platform, indicating that its setbacks are expected to be only temporary.