Community Trust ScoreVerified
CoinEx is done. The Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange, founded by mining pool ViaBTC back in December 2017, announced Tuesday it’s closing for good — nine years of operation, gone.
The reasons aren’t surprising, but they’re brutal. A prolonged crypto market downturn gutted trading volumes. Compliance costs kept climbing. And the exchange, despite grinding through it all, couldn’t break into the industry’s top tier. Founder Haipo Yang admitted the platform hit insurmountable security and regulatory hurdles that made the path forward basically impossible. So liquidation it is.
The shutdown runs in phases.
New user registrations stopped immediately. Referral rewards, also gone. By September 22, every service except spot trading shuts off. Spot trading itself ends September 29. After that, CoinEx will repurchase its native token — CET — at a fixed rate of 0.005 USDT per token, with trading fees waived on the CET/USDT pair. That buyback window runs until December 22, when the withdrawal period officially closes and CoinEx goes dark.
It’s a pretty structured wind-down, all things considered.
What Happens to Your Money After December 22
Here’s where users need to pay close attention. Any unclaimed USDT sitting in accounts after December 22 doesn’t just vanish — it moves to independent custody. But that custody comes with a 5% monthly fee, which adds up fast. Users can still claim those funds, but only until August 22, 2028. After that date, no details were given on what happens next.
CoinEx made it clear: no further official announcements are coming. The exchange told users to withdraw well before the December deadline and not wait around for reminders. That’s pretty much the entire message — get your money out now.
The exchange did drop a few numbers before closing up shop. Daily trading volume sat at roughly $58 million, and CoinEx claimed its reserve ratio stayed above 100%. So it’s not a collapse in the traditional sense — no missing funds, no sudden insolvency. More of a slow bleed that became unsustainable.
The 2023 New York Settlement and Its Long Shadow
CoinEx’s regulatory history didn’t help. In 2023, the exchange settled a legal case with the New York Attorney General, paying over $1.7 million to resolve the allegations. Part of that settlement money went back to New York investors. CoinEx also agreed to stop operating in New York entirely as part of the deal.
That settlement probably cost more than just money. The reputational hit, the legal fees, the compliance overhaul required afterward — it all adds to the operational weight that smaller and mid-tier exchanges can’t always carry. CoinEx carried it for three more years. But it wasn’t enough.
And CoinEx isn’t alone in this. Not even close.
BitMEX and BitMart — both names that once carried serious weight in crypto trading circles — have also announced shutdowns in 2026, citing the same mix of market conditions and regulatory pressure. The pattern is pretty clear at this point. Exchanges that couldn’t reach the scale of Binance or Coinbase, couldn’t absorb compliance costs the way larger platforms can, are exiting. Some quietly, some with more noise.
Nearly 100 crypto projects, including exchanges and blockchain initiatives, have shut down in 2026 alone. That’s not a blip. That’s a structural shakeout, and it’s been building for a while. Crypto markets have always been cyclical, but the regulatory environment tightened sharply in recent years, especially for exchanges operating across multiple jurisdictions without the legal infrastructure to handle it.
CoinEx operated for nine years. That’s actually a long run by crypto exchange standards, where plenty of platforms didn’t survive their first bear market. ViaBTC launched it in December 2017, right at the peak of the first major retail crypto frenzy, and it outlasted dozens of competitors that launched around the same time.
But outlasting competitors doesn’t mean winning. Trading volume at $58 million daily sounds like real money until you compare it to what top-tier platforms process. At that volume level, the math on compliance costs, security infrastructure, and legal exposure gets very hard very fast.
The CET repurchase at 0.005 USDT per token gives holders a clear exit price, at least. No ambiguity there. Users know exactly what the exchange will pay and exactly how long the window stays open — through December 22.
After that, CoinEx goes quiet for good. No further announcements. No extensions promised.
The December 22 deadline is the only date that matters now.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does CoinEx fully shut down?
CoinEx stops all spot trading on September 29, and the withdrawal period officially ends December 22, 2026, when operations close completely.
What is CoinEx repurchasing CET tokens for?
CoinEx will buy back its native CET token at a fixed price of 0.005 USDT per token, with no trading fees on the CET/USDT pair, through December 22, 2026.
What happened to unclaimed funds after CoinEx closes?
Unclaimed USDT moves to independent custody with a 5% monthly fee applied; users can claim those funds until August 22, 2028.
Why It Matters
The closure of CoinEx, alongside BitMEX and BitMart, underscores the ongoing challenges facing cryptocurrency exchanges in an increasingly competitive and regulated environment. As trading volumes decline and compliance costs rise, the exit of these platforms may signal a shift in market dynamics, potentially consolidating power among a few dominant players and reshaping user trust in the sector. This trend raises critical questions about the sustainability of smaller exchanges and the broader implications for liquidity and innovation within the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
