CoinEx, a cryptocurrency exchange launched in December 2017, announced on September 15, 2026, that it will cease exchange operations and enter an orderly wind-down. The platform, founded by Haipo Yang, attributed the decision to a prolonged downturn in the cryptocurrency market, a contraction in industry trading volume and liquidity, rising regulatory requirements in major jurisdictions, and compliance costs that it said had exceeded reasonable boundaries.
The official notice, titled “Important Notice on CoinEx’s Orderly Cessation of Operations,” was posted on the exchange’s website (published 14 September 2026) and shared on X by the official CoinEx account and by founder Haipo Yang.
The exchange stated that this was its final official announcement, adding that any subsequent “new announcements,” “supplementary rules,” or “policy changes” issued in its name should be treated as fraudulent. Official reminders, it said, will only be delivered through email, internal messages, and verified social accounts.
User Assets and Withdrawal Window
CoinEx said in the announcement that it maintains an asset reserve ratio of over 100% and that all user assets are fully backed and available for withdrawal. Withdrawal channels are scheduled to remain open from September 15, 2026, until 02:00 on December 22, 2026, in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
The exchange advised users to withdraw early, citing possible network congestion, fee fluctuations, or longer confirmation times as the window narrows. The platform’s Proof of Reserves page was referenced as the reference point for asset backing.
Wind-Down Timeline
The exchange published a phased calendar for closing down its services:
September 15, 2026: New user registration stops. Referral commissions and other rewards are discontinued. Futures markets move to reduce-only mode. No new subscriptions or orders are accepted for fiat, margin trading, loans, Earn, staking, or strategic trading.
September 22, 2026: All non-spot services cease. On-chain deposits stop, except for CET (CoinEx Token) deposits, which remain available until September 29. Futures positions still open at that time are to be forcibly settled using the index price. Earn and staking products are to be uniformly redeemed, and unpaid loans are to be processed under existing liquidation rules.
September 29, 2026: Spot trading ceases, and unexecuted spot orders are canceled. Remaining CET in user accounts is automatically repurchased at $0.005 per token. CoinEx Smart Chain (CSC) and OneSwap, the exchange’s decentralized swap protocol, cease operations. From 02:00 UTC on September 29, non-USDT (the U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by Tether) assets that have not been withdrawn in original form are scheduled for disposal.
Liquid assets may be sold externally and converted to USDT, while assets with no external liquidity may be delisted, after which the platform said it will no longer assume custody or redemption responsibility.
December 22, 2026: The withdrawal window ends and the exchange platform ceases operations.
August 22, 2028: The deadline for submitting custody claims on USDT that was not withdrawn by December 22, 2026.
CET Repurchase Terms
From September 15 to September 29, 2026, CoinEx said it will place buy orders at $0.005 per CET on the CET/USDT trading pair, with no quantity cap and no additional conditions. Trading fees on the CET/USDT pair are waived during that period. Any CET still held in accounts on September 29 will be bought automatically at the same price, with the corresponding USDT credited to spot accounts. After that date, no further CET repurchase or redemption will be offered.
Founder Haipo Yang described $0.005 as CET’s initial listing price. Around the time of the announcement, public CET quotes were trading near that level following a multi-week decline. The exchange’s own token page showed that a large share of the original 10 billion CET supply had already been burned under the earlier fee-repurchase program.
Handling of Unwithdrawn USDT
The announcement said users must withdraw USDT within the 90-day window ending December 22, 2026. Any USDT that remains unwithdrawn after that date is to be moved into independent custody, and a monthly custody fee equal to 5% of the original balance recorded at the end of the withdrawal period will apply.
Claims may be submitted by email to support@coinex.com until August 22, 2028, and identity re-verification may be required. Assets still unclaimed after that date will be handled under applicable law and procedures.
Products Not Included in the Wind-Down
CoinEx Wallet, the exchange’s self-custody wallet product, and CoinEx Vault were described in the notice as independent of the exchange and unaffected by the wind-down. Users may continue using those products under their own terms.
ViaBTC, the Bitcoin mining pool associated with the same founder, issued a separate statement on the same morning. It said that ViaBTC is a separate legal entity with independent accounts, infrastructure, and servers, and that CoinEx’s wind-down does not affect mining deposits, withdrawals, settlements, hashrate, or rewards. ViaBTC added that its “Auto Withdrawal to CoinEx” feature will stop on September 22, 2026, at UTC+8, and asked miners using that setting to update their withdrawal addresses.
Founder’s Statement
In a statement posted on X, Haipo Yang noted that CoinEx launched on December 22, 2017, and will close on December 22, 2026. He wrote that the exchange “did not become one of the industry’s leading exchanges,” adding that security and compliance risks had become harder to contain, and that carrying “unlimited risk for limited revenue” was no longer a rational choice.
Yang said he considered selling the platform and decided against it because users had entrusted their assets to CoinEx and, in some cases, to him personally. He said the priority was ensuring full withdrawals, a dignified exit for staff, and a defined close for CET. He also acknowledged that some token withdrawals may take longer while funds are moved between cold and hot wallets, but confirmed that requests submitted within the withdrawal period would be processed.
Background
CoinEx was launched in 2017 and has been associated with ViaBTC founder Haipo Yang. In June 2023, the New York Attorney General barred CoinEx from operating in New York under a settlement that recovered approximately $1.7 million and provided refunds to affected New York users.
In September 2023, CoinEx reported a hot-wallet incident involving approximately $54 million and said affected users would be compensated. On-chain analysts later linked the related addresses to the North Korea-associated Lazarus Group.
In June 2026, blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs and subsequent reporting, including The Crypto Times, described large Iran-linked on-chain flows touching CoinEx. The exchange denied commercial ties to Iranian government entities, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), or sanctioned parties, and said it was tightening geofencing and transaction monitoring.
Also in June 2026, CoinEx announced that it would discontinue services in the European Economic Area (EEA) under the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework, keeping withdrawals open for affected users. Recent CoinEx announcement pages have shown a high volume of token delistings across August and September 2026. The September 15 notice itself lists market conditions, liquidity, regulation, and compliance costs as the stated reasons for the wind-down.
Industry Reaction
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) quoted CoinEx’s official notice on X at 05:18 GMT on 15 September 2026 and wrote: “At least, the few recent wind-downs during this winter have allowed users to withdraw their assets, a sharp contrast to the ‘QuadrigaCx styles’ in the previous cycles.”
CZ’s comment framed CoinEx’s exit alongside other 2026 wind-downs in which users were given a defined withdrawal window, rather than the sudden freezes associated with earlier-cycle failures such as QuadrigaCX. Coverage the same morning also grouped CoinEx with BitMart, BitMEX and AscendEX as mid-tier venues that have chosen to stop operations this year under similar volume and compliance pressure.
Haipo Yang, in his own letter posted at 02:03 GMT: “Revenues can decline, responsibility does not. Carrying unlimited risk for limited revenue is no longer a rational choice.” He added that he had considered a sale and rejected it: “A clean ending is the right ending.”
CoinEx’s notice itself: “This announcement is the final announcement issued by CoinEx… Any ‘new announcement,’ ‘supplementary rules,’ or ‘policy adjustment’ appearing in the name of CoinEx is fraudulent.”
Reaction Among Communities and Analysts
The official CoinEx post and Yang’s letter were the primary sources circulating in the first hour after the announcement. Token communities with listings on the exchange, including DigiByte holders, posted withdrawal reminders across social channels. Early reply volume on the official thread remained limited at the time of writing, with some users describing the exit as orderly and others focusing on the withdrawal deadlines. CoinMarketCal logged the wind-down as a calendar event.
Users with balances on the exchange are directed by the platform to the official announcement and to complete withdrawals within the published windows.
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