AscendEX Exchange
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anchored·594raT…kxjnSummary
AscendEX (formerly BitMax) was a centralized cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2018 and headquartered in Singapore. On July 1, 2026, the exchange permanently ceased all operations, citing failure to obtain EU MiCA authorization and the collapse of an undisclosed strategic liquidity transaction. As of July 6, 2026, all automated withdrawals were suspended and moved to manual review, with the exchange explicitly stating it cannot guarantee the timing or amounts of user fund returns.
Connected Entities
1 entityNo connected entities recorded yet — this investigation is not currently linked to any other page in the index.
Timeline(11 events)
1 August 2018
Exchange launched under the name BitMax.io by a team of Wall Street quantitative trading veterans including co-founder and CEO Dr. George Cao.
IQ.wiki — AscendEX3 November 2021
AscendEX closed a $50 million Series B funding round led by Polychain Capital and Hack VC, with participation from Alameda Research and Jump Capital among others, valuing the exchange at approximately $455 million.
BusinessWire — AscendEX Series B Announcement11 December 2021
AscendEX confirmed a hot wallet security breach resulting in losses of approximately $77–78 million across Ethereum, BSC, and Polygon networks. The exchange pledged full reimbursement to affected users.
CoinGeek — AscendEx exchange loses $77M in hack20 June 2026
On-chain data later cited by ZachXBT shows approximately $240 million departing from AscendEX-linked wallets in a single day — six days before ZachXBT's first public warning. This followed a comparable liquidity injection approximately two months prior.
Protos — AscendEx shutdown: Uncertainty over withdrawals as hot wallets lack funds26 June 2026
On-chain investigator ZachXBT publicly warned that AscendEX's hot wallets were critically depleted of liquid assets including ETH, USDT, USDC, and SOL, and flagged extensive withdrawal delays reported by users.
crypto.news — ZachXBT warns AscendEX may face liquidity issues1 July 2026
AscendEX permanently ceased all trading and platform operations, citing lack of MiCA authorization and a failed strategic liquidity transaction in which the named counterparty did not perform.
CryptoSlate — AscendEX shuts down after MiCA miss2 July 2026
ZachXBT warned that withdrawals were still not being processed while deposits continued to be accepted.
Crypto Briefing — AscendEX ceases operations after ZachXBT warning6 July 2026
AscendEX issued its official notice to retail account holders suspending all automated withdrawals and moving all requests to manual review with no guaranteed timeline or amounts. The notice stated that formal insolvency proceedings, if commenced, would govern outstanding user claims.
The Defiant — AscendEX Halts Operations, Freezes Automated Withdrawals8 July 2026
ZachXBT reported that verified user loss claims had reached into the millions of dollars and urged affected users to file reports with law enforcement and financial regulators in their jurisdictions.
Protos — AscendEx shutdown: Uncertainty over withdrawals as hot wallets lack funds8 July 2026
ESMA launched its first joint supervisory sweep of MiCA-licensed crypto custody firms, partly prompted by the AscendEX collapse as an early test case for MiCA enforcement.
BeInCrypto — AscendEX Exchange Collapse Hands Europe Its First MiCA TestDecision Log
- hash: 439WQQrT52A8QgLQjW76YJLYScAm9ACMZ1GVtBDcppFH
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain (1 event). 17 of 20 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.
model: claude-sonnet-4-6
generated: 9/16/2026, 11:10:07 PM
last updated: 9/17/2026, 4:51:45 AM
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