Major crypto exchange OKEx said it had to suspend cryptoasset withdrawals as one of their private key holders “is currently cooperating with a public security bureau in investigations” and the company is “out of touch” with the holder.
“We will resume digital assets/cryptocurrencies withdrawals immediately once the concerned private key holder is able to authorize the transaction,” OKEx said, promising to announce more details later.
The company said that they decided to suspend withdrawals “in the best interests of customers.”
Jay Hao, CEO of OKEx, tweeted that all other operations on OKEx “remain unaffected” and “all your funds and assets are safe.”
“The investigation concerns a certain private key holder’s personal issue only,” the CEO said.
@InfamousGz @JayHao8 @OKEx That’s not true. I guess private keys are not held by one person. But they took more cau… https://t.co/CfW3biNEOR
Cryptonews.com has contacted OKEx for comment.
On-chain balance of bitcoin (BTC) on OKEx stands at 276,185 (USD 3.14bn) and is the fourth largest among exchanges, according to chain.info data. It decreased by more than 2% in the past 24 hours, while other exchanges saw smaller changes, except Bitstamp (+6.9%).
Following the announcement, BTC dropped from USD 11,518 to below USD 11,280 in less than an hour, before rebounding. At pixel time (06:15 UTC), BTC trades at USD 11,339 and is down by 0.6% in a day, trimming its weekly gains to less than 4.5%. Other coins from the top 10 are down 2%-5% in a day. OKB, the native token of OKEx, is down by almost 14% in a day.
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Reactions
@CryptoWhale well, its a coincidence that price has been pushing up to higher region of in distribution range. Bad… https://t.co/t0vLVvkGDi
@lopp Don’t read between the lines, disregard the lines. I’ve noticed you have a tendency to believe people if it… https://t.co/AApUikhO0g
very reliable source but please note the use of the word “rumor” https://t.co/W3c3ozuveD
Also.. just wanted to note, a Decentralized Exchange will NEVER do this to you. https://t.co/oP0ALGqZuu
Rational trading alert! After initially dumping on the OkEx news, $UNI is now rallying.
Irony here is too sweet. $BSV branded/OKEX white-label exchange (with no volume) touted by Coingeek as law friendly… https://t.co/Vvvt156CUX
Learn more: This Is How BitMEX Juggled Private Keys Amid Crackdown
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