Hong Kong-native cryptocurrency exchange CoinEx is winding up operations. Users have till December 22, 2026 to transfer their funds elsewhere.
The crypto company officially cited the extended crypto market downturn, a substantial contraction in industry-wide trading volume and liquidity, and escalating compliance costs as reasons for the closure.
At the same time, CoinEx that has been in crypto business for almost nine years doesn’t simply close up its long-running service in a day. The closure process is gradual. Here are the main deadlines to mind:
September 15: New user registrations stopped, futures entered reduce-only mode, referral rebates and rewards are no longer distributed.
September 22: Non-spot services (Earn, staking, margin, loans) and deposits end, except for CoinEx Token (CET).
September 29: Spot trading stops completely, remaining CET balances are repurchased at 0.005 USDT. CoinEx Smart Chain (CSC) and OneSwap stop operations.
December 22, 2026: Final withdrawal deadline, the platform closes permanently.
Unwithdrawn USDT left in user accounts after the December deadline will move to independent custody and incur a 5% monthly storage fee.
Interestingly, the exchange went live also on December 22, just in 2017. It was launched by Haipo Yang, a former Tencent engineer who had previously founded the Bitcoin mining pool ViaBTC.
Coinex was originally headquartered in Hong Kong but later moved to the Seychelles. The island nation has flexible regulatory framework, favorable tax environment and offshore corporate laws. Operating from there is much easier for a virtual asset business than registering in a country with strict crypto legislation.
Nevertheless, during several years preceding the harsh decision, the crypto exchange faced increased legal scrutiny. In 2023, the company was forced to exit U.S. market after losing a lawsuit on operating without registration as a securities and commodities broker-dealer. CoinEx paid a $1.7 million settlement and refunded its New York users following court decision.
The same year, the crypto exchange became a target for hackers reportedly linked to infamous North Korean Lazarus Group. They compromised the private keys of CoinEx’s internet-connected “hot wallets” and stole between $54 million and $70 million worth of assets. The company resorted to corporate funds to fully reimburse users and upgraded wallet infrastructure, but questions to its cybersecurity policies remained.
This year, the firm’s reputation was further dented when on-chain intelligence report by TRM Labs claimed that CoinEx had become a primary global financial gateway for sanctioned Iranian entities. Allegedly, the latter were routing billions in capital through the crypto exchange. The intelligence firm tracking CoinEx direct exposure to high-risk organizations discovered over $3.84 billion in blockchain-verified flows between CoinEx and sanctioned Iranian entities over more than seven years.
