The platform began an orderly wind-down on September 15, halting new user registrations and restricting several services, while allowing customers to withdraw assets until 02:00 UTC on December 22. CoinEx said all user assets were fully backed and that its reserve ratio exceeded 100 per cent.
Most non-spot services, including futures, margin trading, loans, earn products, staking and strategic trading, are scheduled to end on September 22. Referral rebates and rewards have stopped, while futures contracts were placed into reduce-only mode from September 15. New subscriptions or orders for fiat services, margin products, loans, savings and strategy tools were blocked from the same date. CoinEx said funding rates would continue during the transition until futures services are terminated on September 22. Spot trading will stop on September 29, when outstanding spot orders will be cancelled and the exchange will begin handling assets that users have not withdrawn.
CoinEx said assets with sufficient liquidity in external markets may be sold and converted into the stablecoin USDT after 02:00 UTC on September 29. Assets without external liquidity will gradually be delisted, with the company advising holders to withdraw them to on-chain wallets before the deadline if they want to retain them in their original form.
The exchange’s native CET token will be repurchased at 0.005 USDT per token during a window running to September 29. Any CET remaining in user accounts after that date will be automatically repurchased at the same price, with proceeds credited to spot accounts. CoinEx Smart Chain and the decentralised platform OneSwap are also due to cease operations on September 29.
Founder and chief executive Haipo Yang said in a post on X that security and compliance risks associated with operating a centralised cryptocurrency exchange had become increasingly difficult to contain. He said he had considered selling the business but chose instead to wind it down while seeking to ensure customers could withdraw their holdings in full and employees received an orderly exit.
CoinEx attributed the decision to what it described as a prolonged contraction in the cryptocurrency market, a significant decline in industry trading volume and liquidity, and higher regulatory requirements across major jurisdictions. The company said compliance costs and operational uncertainty had moved beyond what it regarded as reasonable levels.
The shutdown comes amid sustained pressure on cryptocurrency platforms to strengthen customer identification, sanctions controls, asset segregation and proof-of-reserves practices. Regulators in several jurisdictions have tightened scrutiny of exchanges following market failures, cyberattacks and concerns about illicit financial flows.
CoinEx had already withdrawn services from the United States in 2023 after settling a case brought by the New York Attorney General’s office. Under that settlement, the company agreed to refund more than $1.1 million to investors in New York and pay more than $600,000 in penalties after authorities alleged it operated without the required registration.
The exchange has also faced scrutiny over transaction flows involving sanctioned Iranian entities. Blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs said in June that it had traced more than $3.84 billion in transfers between CoinEx and sanctioned entities linked to Iran over more than seven years. CoinEx’s closure announcement did not cite that analysis as a reason for ending operations.
CoinEx said its Wallet and Vault businesses are separate from the exchange platform and will continue operating under their existing terms. Those services are not covered by the shutdown timetable applying to the trading platform.
The company officially launched on December 22, 2017, and chose the same date in 2026 for the final closure. It said the platform had served millions of users across its nine-year run.
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