Resuming BTC Withdrawals Is Not Yet Resolved After OKEx Drama

Resuming BTC withdrawals on OKEX has not been yet resolved after the drama that occurred a few days ago when the founder of the exchange got arrested. Following our latest crypto news, we are reading more about the developments.

Crypto exchange OKEx halted the withdrawals after the founder and private key holder Xu Mingxing was arrested. The founder is now reportedly cooperating with the Chinese Police. Right after he was arrested, OKEx halted all withdrawals, and now resuming BTC withdrawals remains unresolved. The users of the exchange will have to be okay with a little ambiguity over the weekend at least until there’s more information about why the exchange’s founder was taken away by the Chinese police.

This is mislabeled, it is not a transfer from OKEx to Binance

— Philip Gradwell (@philip_gradwell) October 16, 2020

The exchange is headquartered in Malta but it was founded in Hong Kong. Okex issued an update assuring the users that their funds are safe and the withdrawals are stopped after Xu Mingxing was arrested and started cooperating with the police. They offered no timeline for resumption of service and a spokesperson said that there’s still no schedule for resuming.

 “We would like to assure users that the security of funds on OKEx has not been affected. All other operations on OKEx are functioning normally.”

The exchange rebutted the claims that large amounts of BTC were transferred from an OKEx wallet to a binance exchange which the Chainalysis Chief Economist Philip Gradwell eventually confirmed. The drama started a few days ago when the founder was taken away by the police. The exchange suspended all withdrawals of crypto assets because:

 “One of our private key holders is currently cooperating with a public security bureau in investigations where required. We have been out of touch with the concerned private key holder.”

They also commented that the withdrawals will resume right away once the concerned private key holder will be able to authorize the transaction. However, in the update, the exchange stated that it will resume digital asset withdrawals as soon as they determine that all security requirements are met. An OKEx spokesperson declined to say what these requirements were or whether they will resume without Xu:

 “We are unable to reveal any information that may put our users’ funds at risk.  Suffice to say that OKEx maintains the highest security standards to protect our users’ funds and cannot authorize withdrawals without the most stringent checks.”