As several folks have spoken up in favour of not closing the fund, I'd just like to clarify my thinking on currently ranking a fund closure at the top of the list of options.

First, note that I have specifically said that this thinking will change if another exchange steps up to the plate with a credible plan for supporting the continuing operation of assets skewered by BTC-TC. Participants should be asbolutely clear about this: depending on the underlying reasons for the closure of BTC-TC, it is entirely possible that no other exchange will be able to take over BTC-TC assets; nobody yet knows the answer to this question. If no other exchange offers a credible plan, it is not possible to continue with the fund anyway.

In terms of risk to capital, there are only two realistic scenarios to consider:

1) The BTC-TC closure is an isolated event, all listed assets on both BTC-TC and LitecoinGlobal find new homes, and asset values return to something approaching what they were before the closure.

2) The BTC-TC closure is not an isolated event, some listed assets on both BTC-TC and LitecoinGlobal do not find new homes, and asset values do not return to something approaching what they were before the closure.

My own assessment is that number 2 is more likely than number 1: I believe this will have significant knock-on effects across the Bitcoin asset market. To be sure, I don't think the Bitcoin asset market is going to dry up and blow away -- of course not -- but I do think it's going to take some time to digest this event, and in the interim there is significant risk of further capital loss associated with simply waiting it out.

Moreover, suppose for the sake of argument that the fund had already closed (as Deprived has already done with one of his assets, for example). If participants are returned control of their own capital, then they are free to choose exactly what to do with it: if participants would like to dive back into BTC-TC and scoop up some cut-rate assets while waiting for scenario number 1 to materialize, then they can do so. And if other participants do not wish to wait, and they believe that scenario number 2 is more likely, then they can handle their capital appropriately.

The upshot is that by prioritising the option of fund closure -- again, in the absence of a credible plan from another exchange to support the continued operation of BTC-TC assets -- I am aiming to return control to participants, and I am putting a floor on the capital loss which could actually become worse, depending on whether BTC-TC shows any improvement in terms of how it handles the closure. The exchange's handling of the closure so far has not exactly been a paragon of consideration for the interests of market participants.