• CoinEx will permanently close its exchange platform on Dec. 22, 2026, nine years after launch.
• Spot trading ends Sept. 29, when CoinEx Smart Chain and OneSwap also shut down.
• CET holders will be bought out at 0.005 USDT per token with no quantity cap.
CoinEx Sets Dec. 22 as Final Day
Crypto exchange CoinEx will permanently close its trading platform on Dec. 22, 2026, ending a run of roughly nine years in business. The phased wind-down began on Sept. 15, when the venue stopped accepting new registrations, halted referral rewards, and moved its perpetual contract markets into reduce-only mode — a restriction on advanced order types that lets existing positions cut exposure but blocks new risk. Sept. 22 takes all non-spot services offline and deactivates most on-chain deposit addresses, with CET the lone exception. The pivotal date is Sept. 29: every spot pair stops trading, and both CoinEx Smart Chain (CSC), the exchange's own network built on independent node infrastructure, and the decentralized exchange OneSwap shut down. Withdrawals stay open until Dec. 22 — the platform's final day, nine years to the day after its December 2017 launch. Management cited a prolonged crypto downturn, shrinking industry volume and liquidity, and rising regulatory and compliance costs.
Yang Chooses a “Clean Ending”
Founder and CEO Haipo Yang confirmed the shutdown in a post on X, saying the exchange will formally close on Dec. 22. His assessment was blunt: CoinEx never became one of the industry's leading exchanges, and the security and compliance risks of operating one have grown “increasingly difficult to contain.” Yang disclosed that he seriously weighed selling the company, but decided that passing users' trust to a new owner was not an acceptable way to finish. “A clean ending is the right ending,” he wrote. He framed the choice in harder terms as well, arguing that carrying unlimited risk against limited revenue was no longer a rational decision for the business. The statement rules out any rescue sale and sets the tone for an orderly return of customer assets rather than a distressed handover — a notable contrast with several exchange failures in earlier market cycles.
CET Buyback and User Funds
User assets sit at the center of the wind-down. The exchange's official announcement states that its reserve ratio exceeds 100%, meaning customer balances are fully backed as withdrawals proceed. The native CoinEx Token (CET) will be bought back at 0.005 USDT per token — CET's original listing price — with no quantity cap; Yang apologized to holders for CET failing to deliver the long-term value once hoped for. Holdings other than USDT are processed after Sept. 29, and liquid assets may be sold on external markets and converted into USDT. Anyone missing the Dec. 22 deadline is not cut off outright: remaining USDT moves to an independent custodian, which charges a 5% monthly fee on the recorded balance, with claims accepted until Aug. 22, 2028. Some withdrawals may run slower as tokens shift from cold to hot wallets. CoinEx Wallet and CoinEx Vault operate separately and continue beyond the closure.
BitMEX and BitMart Precedents
The closure caps a turbulent history. CoinEx served users across more than 200 countries and regions, but left the United States in 2023 after settling with the New York Attorney General's office, which had accused it of operating without required registration. A TRM Labs report earlier this year identified more than $3.8 billion in Iran-linked flows processed through CoinEx since 2019, including activity tied to the sanctioned Iranian exchange Nobitex. The market had also moved past it: 24-hour trading volume stood at just over $70 million, against Gate's $1.6 billion and CoinW's $1.18 billion on CoinGecko's exchange rankings. CoinEx now follows two July exits: BitMEX, which will halt all trading on Sept. 23, and BitMart, which began its phased shutdown on July 26 — a signal that mid-tier venues are struggling to hold their place as retail spot activity thins.
Mid-Tier Exchange Shakeout Ahead
The load-bearing document here is CoinEx's own closure announcement — its published timeline, the over-100% reserve statement and the CET repurchase terms are what users and counterparties should verify directly rather than relying on secondhand recaps. Taken together with the BitMEX and BitMart exits, the shutdown marks the sharp end of a 2026 consolidation wave in which mid-tier exchanges can no longer carry fixed compliance, security and custody costs on thinning spot volume. For holders, the practical risk is procedural, not solvency: assets must move before Sept. 29 to avoid forced conversion into USDT, and before Dec. 22 to avoid the 5% custody charge. When choosing a destination, confirm the receiving venue supports the same asset and network — mismatched deposits can strand funds or, on chains with shared history, even expose transfers to replay attacks.