Cryptocurrency exchange CoinEx is shutting down after nearly nine years in operation, becoming the latest digital-asset business to retreat as weaker trading activity collides with increasingly expensive regulatory requirements.CoinEx announced the wind-down on September 15, saying a prolonged cryptocurrency market downturn, a significant contraction in industry trading volume and liquidity, and continuously rising regulatory requirements across major jurisdictions had made its business increasingly difficult to sustain.The exchange said compliance costs and operational uncertainties had exceeded what it considered reasonable boundaries. It will now progressively disable services before ceasing operations entirely on December 22, 2026.CoinEx was founded in December 2017 by Haipo Yang, who also founded cryptocurrency mining pool ViaBTC. The exchange grew into a global trading platform offering spot and derivatives markets alongside margin trading, lending, staking and other yield products.
Trading Ends September 29, Withdrawals Close in December
The shutdown will take place in several stages rather than immediately.CoinEx stopped accepting new user registrations on September 15 and began restricting services including fiat trading, margin products, loans, Earn, staking and automated trading strategies. Futures positions are being shifted into reduce-only mode, preventing users from increasing existing exposure.Non-spot trading services are scheduled to terminate on September 22, while all spot trading will end on September 29. The exchange’s native CoinEx Token, or CET, will also be handled as part of the wind-down, with the platform saying remaining CET will be repurchased at 0.005 USDT.Customers will then have until December 22 to withdraw their assets, after which CoinEx will cease all remaining services.CoinEx said its reserve ratio remains above 100% and that customer assets are fully backed and available for withdrawal. Assets not removed before the final deadline are expected to be transferred into independent custody, with a monthly management charge equivalent to 5% of the original balance, making timely withdrawals particularly important for remaining users.
Regulatory Pressure Adds to Difficult Operating Environment
The closure comes after CoinEx faced regulatory challenges in several markets during its operating history.In 2023, New York Attorney General Letitia James reached a settlement worth more than $1.7 million with CoinEx after accusing the platform of operating without registering as a securities and commodities broker-dealer.The agreement required CoinEx to refund $1.17 million to 4,691 New York investors and pay approximately $626,000 in penalties. It also prohibited the exchange from serving U.S. customers and required geoblocking measures.CoinEx suffered a separate setback in September 2023 when attackers drained roughly $70 million from its hot wallets. Blockchain researchers subsequently linked the incident to North Korea’s Lazarus Group, while CoinEx said affected users would be fully compensated.More recently, the exchange had continued actively maintaining its platform. As recently as September 10, it announced another token review that removed 14 cryptocurrencies, including XEM, MLN, LISTA and PI, based partly on trading volume and liquidity criteria.Its decision to close just days later highlights the pressure facing mid-sized centralized exchanges. Larger competitors can spread licensing, anti-money-laundering systems, sanctions screening, cybersecurity and reporting expenses across substantially greater trading volumes.CoinEx’s exit therefore reflects a broader shift in crypto-market economics: regulatory compliance has increasingly become a substantial fixed cost, while weaker trading volumes leave smaller global platforms with less fee revenue available to absorb it.
