Previously licensed by the Gambling Commission and advertised as a stock market for footballers, Football Index has confirmed that all trading and payment transactions will be suspended until further notice.

The Gambling Commission has also now suspended the operator's licence.

The operator was forced to disable comments on its Twitter feed after the market crash after staff received threats on the social media network, with customers reacting negatively after dividends were reduced.

“The Board of BetIndex Limited has consulted with external legal and financial advisors, and the UK and Jersey Gambling Commissions. The decision has been made to suspend the platform,” a statement from Football Index read.

“The dividend restructure announced on Friday was a necessary step in a business recovery plan to seek the long-term sustainability of the platform. However, it is clear that this has not been well received and we need to find a more agreeable way forward.

“We are pursuing a restructuring arrangement to be agreed with our stakeholders including, most importantly, our community. We are preparing this through an administration with insolvency practitioners Begbies Traynor, to seek the best outcome for customers with the goal of continuing the platform in a restructured form.”

Several initiatives have been suggested by Football Index going forward, including equity being distributed to customers, a new management team put in place, and board representation for customers.