CoinEx to Close Exchange on Ninth Anniversary

Withdrawals end Dec. 22, while Arkham attributes $422.7 million across 3.2 million addresses to CoinEx and its reserve page shows no current audit rows.
By:The Defiant Team•
CeFi

Crypto exchange CoinEx will end spot trading on Sept. 29, stop withdrawals at 2:00 UTC on Dec. 22 and close the platform on Dec. 22, exactly nine years after its launch.

In an announcement, CoinEx blamed a prolonged crypto-market downturn, a contraction in trading volume and liquidity, and rising regulatory requirements, compliance costs and operational uncertainty. The venue said it began the staged wind-down on Sept. 15.

Founder Haipo Yang said CoinEx did not become a leading exchange, he wrote on X, while security and compliance risks became harder to contain. “Carrying unlimited risk for limited revenue is no longer a rational choice,” Yang said. He added that he considered selling the exchange but decided against it.

Trading Ends Before Withdrawals

New registrations have stopped, futures are in reduce-only mode, and CoinEx is no longer accepting new orders or subscriptions for products including margin trading, loans, Earn and staking. All non-spot services and most deposits are scheduled to end Sept. 22.

CoinEx will stop spot trading on Sept. 29. At 2:00 UTC that day, it will begin processing assets other than USDT. Tokens with external liquidity will be sold in batches and converted to USDT based on net sale proceeds. For assets without external liquidity, CoinEx said it will stop maintaining the relevant wallets and will no longer take responsibility for custody or redemption. Users who want to withdraw tokens in their original form therefore face the earlier Sept. 29 deadline.

CoinEx will also repurchase its CET token at 0.005 USDT through Sept. 29, when remaining CET in customer accounts will be converted automatically. CoinEx Smart Chain and the OneSwap decentralized exchange are also scheduled to close that day.

Reserve Claim Lacks Current Public Rows

Onchain analytics platform Arkham labels 3.2 million addresses to CoinEx with a combined balance of $422.7 million. Its largest labeled holdings included about $144.7 million of bitcoin, $100.8 million of Spark Savings USDT, $55 million of USDT and $51.6 million of Aave USDT at the time of review.

That address-level balance does not show how much CoinEx owes customers. CoinEx said its reserve ratio exceeds 100% and that every user asset is fully backed, but its public proof-of-reserves page displayed no date after “Latest Audition” and no entries in its reserve table when reviewed. The available public pages therefore did not permit an independent comparison of CoinEx’s labeled assets with customer liabilities.

The shutdown notice says CoinEx Wallet and CoinEx Vault are independent of the exchange and will continue operating. It does not mentionined operational and continued to offer mining-pool, wallet and loan services at the time of review

After withdrawals end on Dec. 22, CoinEx said unwithdrawn USDT will move into independent custody and incur a monthly fee equal to 5% of the original balance recorded at the end of the withdrawal period. Customers can submit custody claims until Aug. 22, 2028.

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Source: thedefiant.io