Hong Kong-based crypto exchange Bitforex has halted withdrawals for at least three days without giving a reason. Prior to the halt, around $56 million in crypto had been withdrawn from the exchange’s wallets.
As rug pull-whistleblower ZachXBT noted on X on Feb. 23, three Bitforex hot wallets saw outflows of around $56.5 million in cryptocurrencies. Shortly after, Bitforex stopped processing transactions.
Seeing some suspicious activity with the crypto exchange @bitforexcom. On Feb 23 their hot wallets saw outflows of ~$56.5M. Shortly after this time withdrawals stopped processing with no official announcements having been made since. Currently users are asking questions on… pic.twitter.com/gFEcwExHKh
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) February 26, 2024
Related: $56M moved from defunct exchange after executives fled
The exchange’s X account hasn’t been updated since May 2023. On its official channel in Telegram, Bitforex users are reporting problems with their accounts, varying from the inability to enter their accounts to the dashboard not showing any assets. Several users share the pop-up screen, reporting they have been blocked from accessing the company’s site.
Cointelegraph tried to open the Bitforex page but stumbled upon the same problem. However, some specific pages of the exchange’s site are still live, for example, the announcement on Jan. 31 revealing that Jason Luo, then CEO at Bitforex, has left the company. It is the last announcement published by Bitforex by press time.
Screencap from Bitforex's website showing it has been blocked.
In September 2023, Bitforex was among the leading global crypto exchanges in terms of capitalization. Its daily trading volume stood at about $2.6 billion in crypto. At present, CoinMarketCap doesn’t provide live data on Bitforex.
In April 2023, Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) accused Bitforex of violating the nation’s fund settlement laws. According to the FSA, along with some other platforms, the exchange has been conducting business in the country without proper registration.
However, since then, Bitforex hasn’t drawn any significant attention from regulators or media.
Last week, another Hong Kong exchange, Atom Asset Exchange (AAX), moved around $55.6 million worth of Ether from its wallets. AAX stopped all its operations on Nov. 13, 2022, just two days after FTX filed for bankruptcy. Following its shutdown, AAX's former CEO Thor Chan and board member Haoming Liang were arrested by Hong Kong police in 2022. However, the founder of AAX, whose identity remains unknown, is allegedly still on the run with 230 million Hong Kong dollars ($29.41 million) worth of users’ money and private keys holding access to exchange wallets.
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