Crypto exchange CoinEx announced Tuesday it will wind down operations after nine years, citing a prolonged market downturn, declining trading volumes and liquidity, and rising regulatory costs. The platform will halt new registrations and trading services in stages, with withdrawals closing on December 22.
The closure of CoinEx highlights the ongoing challenges faced by cryptocurrency exchanges due to market volatility, reduced trading activity, and increasing regulatory scrutiny, potentially impacting users' access to their funds and the broader market sentiment.
Crypto exchange CoinEx announced Tuesday that it will cease operations after nine years, citing a prolonged downturn in the cryptocurrency market, declining trading volumes and liquidity, and rising regulatory and compliance costs. The exchange plans to halt new user registrations, referral programs, and other rewards as part of its wind-down process.
In a post on X, CoinEx CEO Haipo Yang stated that the company did not become a leading exchange and that the security and compliance risks associated with running a crypto exchange had become increasingly difficult to manage. This closure follows similar decisions by other crypto exchanges such as BitMart, BitMEX, and AscendEX this year.
CoinEx will discontinue non-spot services and on-chain deposits, with the exception of CET deposits, starting September 22. All spot trading services will cease on September 29, with non-USDT assets being processed. The final withdrawal period will end on December 22, after which the platform will cease all operations. Any unwithdrawn USDT will be transferred to an independent custodian, incurring a monthly fee. Additionally, CoinEx will repurchase its native token, CET, at its initial listing price of 0.005 USDT per token.
CoinEx Wallet and CoinEx Vault will continue to operate independently of the exchange. CoinEx was launched in December 2017 by crypto mining pool ViaBTC and is currently ranked 33rd on CoinMarketCap with $58 million in 24-hour trading volume.