HitBTC exchange problems…
You are on the list of countries not supported. HitBTC takes the IP address, and figures out where you live. Theoretically a VPN such as Hotspot Shield could get around this if you set the country to say Switzerland, although this may be illegal depending on your countries laws.
g. will not use our Services or will immediately cease using those if you are a resident or become a resident at any time of the state or region (in accordance with such state or region definition of residency), where the crypto assets transactions you are going to execute are prohibited or require special approval, permit and/or authorization of any kind, which HitBTC has not obtained in this state or region. Notwithstanding the above, you are not in any case allowed to access and use our Services if you are located, incorporated or otherwise established, or a citizen or resident of:
(I) the United States of America,
(II) North Korea,
(III) Sudan,
(IV) Crimea and Sevastopol,
(V) Cuba,
(VI) Syria,
(VII) United Kingdom,
(VIII) Canada,
(IX) Belgium,
(X) France,
(XI) Germany,
(XII) Italy,
(XIII) any state, country or other jurisdiction that is embargoed by the United States of America, or
(XIV) a jurisdiction where the local Applicable Law prohibits or will prohibit you at any time (by reason of your nationality, domicile, citizenship, residence or otherwise) to access or use the Services or the Technology Platform (hereinafter, together “The Restricted Jurisdictions”).
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Just don’t use HitBTC.
Over the years there have been many many warnings about this operation.
You cannot say you have not been warned repeatedly.
Having said that, what is the problem?
1 You want to buy but cannot?
2 You want to sell but cannot?
3 You want to get your tokens back off HitBtc?
1 & 2 - convert your MAID to eMAID through the excellent, fast service from alt.co and ask @Dimitar for further advice OR DM if you want an OTC deal
3 See above about warnings - Best of luck
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I was not warned there was a problem with the HitBTC exchange or I wouldn’t have used them. I had used them since 2018, mostly for MAID tokens, and had no problems. I normally send a small amount to an exchange to test the address, but because I had recently had many dealings with them I decided to send the full amount because of the BTC cost. I was never informed the UK was going to be added to their blocked list by the exchanged or anyone else. From what’s been happening I assume I’m not the only one who will be hit hard by their shenanigans. Is there nothing the Safenetwork could do to get HitBTC to resolve this problem for those affected? A costly lesson has been learned.
Sadly no…
Why should HitBTC pay the slightest bit of notice to Autonomi? And that assumes that Autonomi have spare resources to go raise a complaint. They don’t. we dont have enough resources to get on with the job in hand, let alone try to take on the slippery kind of “businessmen” that run exchanges.
And Im sorry but there have been frequent warnings on here about HitBTC and other exchanges.
And always the mantra about keeping large amounts on exchanges - “Not your keys, not your tokens”
Only ever keep your gambling stake on an exchange, your real bags should be stored offline - preferably on a hardware device like a Trezor.
PS Cheer up Ayr beat Morton to go top of the league 
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The other thing to note about HitBTC is that they have paused deposit/withdraws of MAID for a few months now, I am working on reaching out to them but have not had luck yet. @Southside is correct that it is not a good idea to keep assets on CEX for security reasons. For example there is no FDIC insurance and if they go bankrupt you are likely out of luck. Use a ledger or trezor for all crypto asset for safest option. Although I do disagree with @Southside sentiment that the majority of CEX are “slipper businessmen”. There are lots of highly trusted and reputable CEX out there.
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There are. Its just that HitBTC are not in that category.
And the other reputable ones are too busy to deal with a minnow like MAID/eMAID with its historically low volumes and clunky OMNI protocol for MAID.
Who can really blame them? It does not make a lot of business sense from their PoV. Which leaves us with the likes of HitBTC…
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I agree on that take. HitBTC is a not a top tier exchange. And you are right, we need to be able to show volume to be able to attract a mid or top tier exchange.
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Which puts us in a chicken-egg situation or Catch-22 if you are a pessimist.
Until proper launch (and whats coming soon is NOT a “proper” launch) and hopefully some decent publicity, we are stuck where we are and moaning about it wont do us any good.
So…
If you have MAID and want to trade, swap them for eMAID at alt.co and go to UniSwap or another DEX on this list
OR if you want to trade directly (OTC) post here and follow up with DMs if anyone shows interest.
But the best advice still is simply – hunker down and hodl.
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Not sure if it’s exactly chicken and egg situation as if CEXs see volume on DEX, I would imagine they would consider listing. After all the way they make money is in commission/fees so if the volume is there it’s in their best interest to support it.
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I can only speak for the volume I see on BitMart and CoinGecko. I really don’t know how much is traded on Uniswap etc - but I doubt its any significant amount that would catch the eye of a CEX.
The community has generally been in hodl mode for years.
Whether that is a GoodThing or not very much depends. Ask me 3 months ago and I would 100% agree. But something may have changed recently…
I’ve been emailing them regulary from the start of the year about my MAID tokens, but all I get is BS about it being worked on and that I’ll be informed when they resolve the problem of the MAID being sent to a disabled address that was provided by the exchange. Since then I am unable to use the exchange to do anything. I can login, but trying to withdraw the few hundred MAID I still have in my account isn’t allowed. Who are you in contact with from HitBTC? I’m emailing the support team, but all I’m getting back is BS excuses. Did you receive a warning they were stopping MAID transactions from the exchange? There is still trading going on with MAID so it’s very confusing what’s going on with my account. Do you know why they stopped UK customers from using the exchange?
So far I have only contacted the support email (about a week ago), and have not heard back. I told them I was from maidsafe and wished to establish a line of communication. I plan on following up again Monday. I do not know why deposit/withdraws were paused for “maintenance” but my goal is to work with them to figure it out to help everyone. Until we can get it back online, which is out of maidsafes control, any funds on BitBTC are stuck for now.
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It’s not just Maid token that has a problem, its the UK is now on the HitBTC blocked list. I can login into my account but can’t do anything other than look. No trading or transferring from wallet to spot etc. I was tempted to try and send a few usdt to see what would happen, but decided not to bother as it seems pretty definite that the UK IP addresses are blocked. I don’t think you’ll get anywhere using support, they just respond with the same BS - we are working on it and will be in touch when the problem gets resolved, thank you for your patience. If the price of the MAID token goes above £1.00 in the next few months I’ll hire a Hong-Kong lawyer to try to get my tokens back. I might even contemplate going in person if it goes anywhere near £5.00. 
You will also likely have to KYC, even if you use a VPN. If you have self custody, we will allow you to swap without KYC for the native token when it’s ready. The reason many exchanges are blocking UK and US clients is due to compliance, regulation, and local laws of the places we live. I got kicked off Nexo for that reason maybe a year ago.
Problem solved when it is just that. What you have might be just to cover the withdrawal fee.
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