The cryptocurrency exchange CoinEx has announced the suspension of operations and the initiation of an orderly liquidation process. The official reason given is the prolonged downturn in the crypto market, with trading volume and liquidity continuously shrinking, compounded by rising regulatory requirements leading to compliance costs exceeding reasonable limits.

Starting from September 15, 2026, CoinEx will phase out services: new user registrations and referral rewards will cease on that day, and contract trading will enter a "reduction-only" mode, meaning users can only close positions and cannot open new ones thereafter.

From September 22, all non-spot services will be halted except for spot trading; on September 29, spot trading will officially cease, and all platform tokens CET held in user accounts will be forcibly repurchased at a fixed price of 0.005 USDT per CET.

The withdrawal window will remain open until December 22, at which point the platform will officially cease operations. CoinEx also stated that its asset reserve ratio exceeds 100%, promising that user assets can be fully withdrawn, addressing concerns about "insolvency" or "running away".

For USDT that is not withdrawn by the deadline, CoinEx stated it will be transferred to an independent custody account, but a custody fee of 5% of the original balance will be charged monthly, meaning that funds not withdrawn in time will be eroded by the custody fee over time, creating a "the longer you wait, the more you lose" mechanism. CoinEx also specifically stated that this announcement is the final official notice, and any new announcements made in the name of CoinEx thereafter are fraudulent, aimed at preemptively cutting off potential impersonation scams.

Mechanically, this exit does not have a typical "buyer"; essentially, the exchange主体 is actively liquidating: users are directly under pressure, and CET holders are forcibly redeemed at a fixed price of 0.005 USDT, rather than selling freely at market prices—if the secondary market price deviates from this repurchase price, users are effectively being unilaterally priced by the platform; users who do not withdraw in time will also bear an additional monthly 5% custody fee erosion. The beneficiaries are relatively indirect: exchanges with lower compliance costs that are still operating normally may take on the users and trading volume released after CoinEx's exit, leading to a further short-term concentration of the industry towards compliant exchanges.

The repurchase price of 0.005 USDT/CET and the custody fee rate of 5% per month are the only two specific numbers mentioned in this announcement, which did not disclose details on the specific scale of liquidation, number of users, or reserve audits.

Source: Public Information