CoinEx plans to wind down its exchange operations after nine years, ending most services on Sept. 29 while giving customers until Dec. 22 to withdraw their cryptocurrency. The Seychelles-based platform cited a prolonged market downturn, weaker trading activity and liquidity across the sector, and rising regulatory and compliance costs in a closure notice.
The timetable leaves users with a relatively short period to remove assets before the exchange begins converting balances and transferring unclaimed funds into a fee-bearing custody arrangement. New registrations stop on Sept. 15, while withdrawals are scheduled to remain open for nearly three additional months.
CoinEx said it served users in more than 200 countries and regions. Its closure would remove another mid-sized centralized venue from a market where trading has increasingly concentrated among the largest platforms, leaving smaller exchanges with thinner order books and fewer resources to absorb compliance, security, and operational costs.
Withdrawal deadline precedes custody fees
Customers who have not withdrawn assets by Sept. 29 could see their remaining holdings converted into USDT, CoinEx said. The exchange did not present that conversion as a voluntary trading service; it forms part of the shutdown process for accounts left open after regular operations end.
After Dec. 22, remaining USDT balances are set to move to an independent custody arrangement. CoinEx said that arrangement will charge a monthly custody fee equal to 5% of the account’s original balance, creating a substantial cost for customers who leave assets unclaimed for an extended period.
The deadline to submit a claim for balances held in custody is Aug. 22, 2028, according to the company. Users holding less liquid tokens face an additional practical decision before Sept. 29: moving those assets off-platform preserves ownership of the original token, while leaving them in place could expose them to CoinEx’s USDT conversion process and the price available when it occurs.
CoinEx also set a fixed buyback price of $0.005 for its native token, according to the supplied shutdown details. The token was trading near $0.00466 shortly before the announcement, implying that the proposed buyback rate stood above the prevailing market price at that point. Whether users can access that rate will depend on the specific redemption terms and the platform’s shutdown procedures.
Founder cites security and regulatory burdens
Haipo Yang, CoinEx’s founder and chief executive officer, said security and compliance risks had become increasingly difficult to manage. Yang said he had considered selling the business but chose not to move ahead with a transaction.
His comments place the decision in a difficult operating environment for second-tier exchanges. A platform’s costs are not limited to technology and customer support: it must also maintain asset-security systems, monitor suspicious transactions, handle sanctions screening, manage legal exposure across different jurisdictions, and maintain enough liquidity for reliable trading and withdrawals.
CoinEx had already retreated from the U.S. market in 2023 after resolving a lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. The lawsuit alleged that the exchange had operated in New York without required registration. Under the settlement, CoinEx agreed to stop serving New York customers and pay penalties and refunds.
The company’s shutdown notice does not link that settlement, or any other specific enforcement action, directly to the decision to close. Yet the earlier U.S. exit illustrates the jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction burden facing exchanges that have historically served customers across a large number of countries.
Sanctions-linked flows add to compliance scrutiny
Blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs reported earlier this year that CoinEx had processed more than $3.8 billion in flows linked to Iranian entities since 2019. TRM Labs said the figure included transactions involving Nobitex, an Iranian exchange, as well as other sanctioned counterparties.
That reporting does not establish that CoinEx itself violated sanctions laws, and transaction exposure can arise through users moving funds between platforms rather than through an exchange’s direct relationship with a counterparty. But large volumes of activity connected to high-risk jurisdictions increase monitoring demands and can complicate banking, licensing, and compliance relationships.
The closure also comes after CoinEx’s trading presence had diminished. The platform ranked 33rd globally in the supplied market snapshot and reported about $58 million in daily trading volume shortly before the news emerged. For comparison, leading centralized exchanges commonly process daily spot volumes measured in billions of dollars, giving them deeper liquidity and more revenue to fund compliance infrastructure.
Low activity can be particularly damaging for smaller venues. Thin markets may produce wider gaps between buy and sell orders, making execution more expensive for customers and reducing the appeal of the platform for professional market makers. Lower volume also limits fee income just as fixed expenses — including audits, legal work, cybersecurity, and transaction monitoring — continue.
Related services face separate deadlines
CoinEx said some associated brand services, including its smart chain and cross-chain bridge, are also due to cease functioning later this month. A cross-chain bridge allows assets or information to move between separate blockchain networks, so users relying on those routes may need to complete transfers before the relevant service deadline.
Independent wallet applications and self-custody tools operating on separate networks are different from an exchange account. A wallet holds the cryptographic credentials used to control assets on a blockchain, while an exchange typically controls those credentials on behalf of the customer. Their continued availability will depend on the individual software provider and blockchain network rather than CoinEx’s exchange shutdown.
The immediate practical issue for CoinEx customers is the withdrawal schedule. Assets moved to a personal wallet remain subject to the user’s own security practices, including safeguarding recovery phrases and verifying wallet compatibility. Assets left on CoinEx after Sept. 29 may enter a conversion process, and balances remaining after Dec. 22 face the monthly custody charge described in the company’s notice.
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