At the beginning of the month of October, we saw the United States’ Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) charging the co-founders of the Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX with operating an illegal trading platform and violating multiple regulations. Now, another popular cryptocurrency exchange has been struck hard by the authorities. Reportedly, the founder of the Malta-based digital currency exchange OKEx has been taken by the Police. In the wake of this incident, the global cryptocurrency exchange suspended its withdrawal service for users earlier today.
Suspension of withdrawals for users by OKEx
As per an official announcement published on October 16, 2020, the OKEx exchange halted the service of withdrawals for users as the founder of the exchange Star Xu is under investigation by the Police. While explaining why the crypto exchange has suspended withdrawals it said that the company is not in touch with one of its private key holders which is reportedly cooperating with a “public security bureau in an investigation” that is currently going on.
The withdrawal service was stopped today as of October 16, 2020, at 11:00 am. OKEx said that all of the other functions of the exchange are operating normally and have not been affected. Also, it assured its users saying that their funds are completely safe and secured. Therefore, they need not worry about their funds.
While announcing the suspension of the crypto assets’ withdrawal service, the cryptocurrency exchange apologized to users for this inconvenience. The company has said that it will inform through a public announcement if any development is made regarding this matter “in a timely manner”.
OKEx refused to unveil the actual nature of the ongoing investigation. It also has not revealed when it plans to resume the withdrawal service. However, the exchange has said that the cryptocurrency withdrawal service will be resumed soon after “the concerned private key holder is able to authorize the transaction”.
Maintaining Security standards
Commenting on this, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the OKEx exchange Jay Hao said that the withdrawal service has been halted temporarily and that they took this decision keeping in view the security of users.
He said that this step they took is crucial for the maintenance of their high-security standards. The OKEx exchange will never compromise when the security of its users is concerned, he added.