We might increase leverage in the future if we see our swap market is cooling off a little.
For the time being we believe it's a good idea, for the sake of traders, liquidity providers and the bitcoin market to slow down a little the growth of our swap total market.
I hope this helps.
Have a good day
Giancarlo
Bitfinex Team
"Earlier today, Mt. Gox halted trading, saying the market needed to
"cool down""
I knew i heard that phrase somewhere else before...

Hehe, I don't know about the validity of that analogy, but this is a pretty clear acknowledgement by Bitfinex that swaps/leverage have gotten out of hand vs. liquidity.