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BitForex Team Finally Breaks Silence After Five Months of Shutdown: What Next?
Vladislav Sopov
BitForex, the now-shuttered Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange, is allowed by Chinese police to reopen withdrawals for all customers
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In an official statement, the BitForex team informed that its operations were halted in February due to police investigations and the detention of team members. Now, the platform is allowed to enable asset withdrawals, but operations will not be restored.
BitForex Exchange Reopens Soon, Allows Withdrawals After Five-Month Hiatus, Official Statement Says
The team behind BitForex, a now-defunct centralized cryptocurrency exchange, has shared an official statement following its demise in February 2024. It states that as of February 23, operations have been shut down as the team was investigated and arrested by police in Jiangsu Province, China.
Exchange representatives were unable to communicate in a timely manner due to the “sensitive” nature of the situation while the platform remained inaccessible. Users attempting to access their accounts received messages about restrictions.
At the same time, in mid-July, the team managed to get permission from law enforcement to reopen the exchange, in withdrawal-only mode. No trades or deposits will be recovered.
Additionally, new registrations will be halted during the withdrawal campaign. Holders of perpetual contracts will be forced to go through KYC procedures again, the statement added.
The exact timing of the recall campaign has yet to be announced, but the team is confident that reopening for existing customers will happen “soon.”
Before being shut down by law enforcement, the exchange was ranked among the top 30 CEXs by aggregate trading volume. In the spot section, it reached $2 billion per day in early 2024.
Scam Alert: No, You Cannot Get Your BitForex Funds Back Today
The exchange operations were halted on February 23, 2024, without any prior notification. The team remained silent, but the incident was preceded by a $57 million transaction from the BitForex hot wallet.
The exchange is also a major holder of the Tellor (TRB) cryptocurrency, a token of the eponymous blockchain oracle network. The TRB price mysteriously quadrupled in just three weeks, just before BitForex shut down. The exchange’s CEO also resigned a few days before the team’s demise.
BitForex remains the largest holder of micro-cap OMI, which increased by 100% in January 2024.
BitForex representatives added that the official campaign via the exchange’s main website is the only way to recover assets from accounts. Therefore, users should stay away from scammers offering “emergency” cryptocurrency withdrawals with high priority ahead of the official schedule.
BitForex Token (BF), the official cryptocurrency of the collapsed exchange, added only 4% on the announcement of potential withdrawals.
About the author
Vladislav Sopov
Blockchain analyst and writer with a scientific background. 6+ years in IT analytics, 3+ years in blockchain.
He has worked both in independent analysis and in start-ups (Swap.online, Monoreto, Attic Lab etc.)