CoinEx will close at 02:00 UTC on December 22, 2026, exactly nine years after its launch, following a three-month phased shutdown of services due to declining liquidity and rising compliance costs, according to an announcement from the exchange. The decision brings to a close a platform that operated through multiple crypto market cycles, while putting its commitment to fully refunding user assets to a final test.
CoinEx begins a staged shutdown
According to the official announcement, CoinEx stopped new user registrations, terminated referral commission distributions, and transitioned all futures markets to reduce-only mode starting September 15. Users can no longer open new positions, but can still reduce or close existing ones.
Starting September 22, the exchange will halt all non-spot trading services, including futures, margin, loans, Earn, staking, and automated trading strategies. On-chain asset deposit operations will also cease on the same day, with the exception of CET, which will still be accepted until September 29.
Spot trading will cease at 02:00 UTC on September 29. CoinEx will cancel unfilled orders, withdraw the remaining liquidity, and credit the corresponding assets to users’ spot accounts. Withdrawal channels will remain operational until 02:00 UTC on December 22, at which point the exchange will officially close.
The plan covers the exchange, CoinEx Smart Chain, and OneSwap. CoinEx Wallet and CoinEx Vault are operated independently, so they are unaffected and will continue to operate, according to the announcement.
Founder says exchange risks became difficult to contain
Speaking after the shutdown announcement, founder and CEO Haipo Yang said that business efficiency no longer justified the security and compliance risks involved in operating CoinEx. As market leadership weakened, liquidity contracted, and compliance costs climbed, Yang emphasized the long-term responsibility of operators in the face of increasingly uncontrollable risks.
Dear CoinEx Community,
Today, I am announcing that CoinEx will cease operations and begin an orderly wind-down.
First, what matters most: your assets are safe. CoinEx’s reserve ratio exceeds 100%, and every user asset is fully backed and available for withdrawal. Withdrawals…
— Haipo Yang (@yhaiyang) September 15, 2026
Reselling the platform was considered as an alternative. However, Yang noted that transferring control to a new owner could alter the responsibility owed to people who deposited assets into CoinEx. Management ultimately chose to self-supervise the withdrawal process and closure, an option he called a “clean ending.”
Non-USDT holdings face conversion after Sept. 29
The end of spot trading on September 29 also triggers the processing mechanism for remaining non-USDT balances on CoinEx. Users wishing to retrieve the exact asset types they hold must complete their withdrawals before this deadline.
Assets that retain liquidity on markets outside CoinEx will be sold in batches. Net proceeds will be converted into USDT and credited to users’ spot accounts.
For assets that no longer have liquidity, the exchange will gradually delist them and stop maintaining the associated wallets. CoinEx will no longer accept custody or exchange responsibility for this group of assets after the deadline. Users wishing to keep them must transfer them to on-chain wallets before spot trading ceases.
CoinEx sets CET buyback at 0.005 USDT
CoinEx will buy back CET at a price of 0.005 USDT per token. From September 15 to September 29, the exchange will maintain a buy order at this level on the CET/USDT pair with no quantity limit and zero trading fees. CET remaining in accounts when the program ends will be automatically converted to USDT.
CET lost nearly 62% in the first half of September before recovering to $0.004997 on September 15, close to the buyback price, according to CoinGecko. CoinEx reported that approximately 2.415 billion CET were in circulation as of September 2, but did not disclose how many tokens were held on the exchange.
CET deposit activities and the redemption window for the bridge on CoinEx Smart Chain will both close on September 29. CoinEx will not offer further buyback or conversion programs after this point, so on-chain CET holders must transfer their tokens to the exchange before the deadline if they wish to sell them back at 0.005 USDT.
CoinEx says user assets remain fully backed
CoinEx maintains that user assets are fully backed. In its August 25 Proof of Reserves snapshot, the exchange reported reserve ratios of 104.33% for USDT, 105.17% for BTC, and 100.35% for ETH. These figures reflect balances at a single point in time, not a full audit of the balance sheet or off-chain obligations.
USDT not withdrawn before December 22 will be transferred to an independent custodian. A monthly custody fee equivalent to 5% of the initial remaining balance at the end of the withdrawal period will apply. Users can request the return of their assets until August 22, 2028, and may be required to re-verify their identity.
CoinEx has previously faced legal issues in certain markets. In 2023, the exchange reached a settlement with the New York Attorney General, refunding approximately $1.17 million to 4,691 investors, paying over $626,000 in fines, and withdrawing from the U.S.
In June 2026, TRM Labs reported tracing $3.84 billion in transactions between CoinEx and more than 60 entities in Iran’s crypto ecosystem, including around $2.7 billion linked to Nobitex. This was a blockchain analysis by TRM, not a court finding, and CoinEx did not cite this report as a direct cause for its closure.
CoinEx has not disclosed the total value of assets awaiting withdrawal. Its ability to fully process all requests before December 22 will be the final test of its over-100% reserve claim and the “clean ending” promised by Haipo Yang.
