Cryptocurrency Exchange OKEX suspends Withdrawals as private key holder faces investigations
Popular cryptocurrency exchange OKEx has announced the suspension of digital assets/cryptocurrency withdrawals as one of their private key holders is currently cooperating with a public security bureau in investigations” and they have, as a result, been out of touch with the concerned private key holder.
OKEx has apologized for any inconvenience the suspension of digital assets/withdrawals might have caused users, assuring that they will resume withdrawals “immediately” once the concerned private key holder is able to authorize the transaction.
It is noteworthy that hours before the announcement, there were significant withdrawals of Bitcoin, Tron, and Ether, as spotted by on-chain transaction monitoring service Whale Alert.
CEO, Jay Hao tweeted that no exchange operations asides withdrawal were affected, stating that the private key holder’s investigation was only a private issue.
Chinese reporter Colin Wu released some currently unverified comments that suggest the investigation might be related to money laundering.
The Chinese government is cracking down on money laundering using cryptocurrency for telecom fraud, and centralized exchanges are in a very dangerous state.
Wu also disclosed that an OTC merchant on OKEx had mistakenly received 500,000 CNY from the fraud group and was hunted by the police across the provinces.”
Since this announcement, Bitcoin (BTC) has fallen by nearly 3% while OKEx’s native token OKB tanked by 15%.
Another case of “not your keys, not your coins” right there!
It appears the CEx hunt is getting more interesting by the day. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.