CoinEx posted on social media platform X and stated that it is shutting down after nine years and the platform is starting an orderly wind down of its cryptocurrency exchange business. The platform launched back in December 2017, and now it plans to close on December 22, 2026. Until then, users will still be able to withdraw their funds, and the exchange also assured that its reserve ratio is over 100%.
The company blames the prolonged market downturn, shrinking trading volume, and tougher regulations which are driving up compliance costs and uncertainty. Founder Haipo Yang admitted CoinEx never became a top tier exchange, managing security and compliance risks just became too challenging. Yang called it irrational to keep taking on unlimited risk for limited returns.
CoinEx Begins a Step-by-Step Shutdown
The wind down process started today, September 15, 2026. At that point, registrations and rewards have closed off. The futures market switched to Reduce Only Mode, so the users could close existing positions but could not open any new ones. Fiat, Margin, Loan, Earn, Staking, and Strategic trading features (like subscriptions and orders) also stopped accepting new requests.
By September 22, all non-spot services will end. On-chain deposit services will close, except for CET deposits, which stay open until September 29. At that point, futures services will end, outstanding orders will get canceled, and positions will forcibly be settled using the index price. CoinEx is urging users to close their futures positions before the said deadline.
Strategic trading features including Auto Invest Plan, Spot Grid, and Futures Grid stop too on September 22. Running strategies will be stopped and pending orders will be canceled.
New margin borrowing and loan renewals have already closed. CoinEx recommends users repay existing loans and sort out their collateral early. From September 22, any unpaid loans can result in the platform disposing of user collateral under liquidation rules, the proceeds first pay off the loans, and anything left goes to the user.
If the users used Flexible Savings, Fixed Savings, Dual Investment, or staked products, then they cannot make new subscriptions from September 15. These earn and staking products stop entirely on September 22, with CoinEx redeeming remaining investments under applicable rules.
September 29 and December 22 Set the Final Deadlines
According to the post, spot trading stays active until September 29. After that, it stops, and any unexecuted orders are canceled. CoinEx says they will pull liquidity and send those assets back to users’ spot accounts. Starting at 2:00 a.m. UTC on September 29, CoinEx could sell non-USDT assets with resale value into USDT, depending on the realized proceeds. For assets without any outside buy orders, the platform will gradually delist them and stop maintaining the wallets, so users should withdraw those assets before 2:00 a.m.
CET will be repurchased at 0.005 USDT per token with no quantity limit. Between September 15 and September 29, CoinEx will buy back tokens through the CET/USDT pair and not charge fees. Any CET left after that window gets automatically bought back at the same rate, with the proceeds sent to spot accounts.
The CoinEx Smart Chain (CSC) and OneSwap close down on September 29. The bridge window closes too. The users will have until 2:00 a.m. UTC on December 22, 2026, to get their funds out. CoinEx is warning about potential network congestion and delays, so it is better to withdraw early.
This shutdown has started a debate about whether smaller exchanges can survive. Chris said small and mid size CEXs are struggling as the market shrinks and compliance gets tougher. He thinks having enough scale and credibility is now more important, and that DEXs may need to innovate to stand out.
Sun Xinjin, who worked at both CoinEx and ViaBTC for four years, called the closure the end of an era and praised the company’s internal culture. Binance founder Changpeng Zhao pointed out that unlike past failures, these recent closures let users withdraw their assets.
After December 22, any unclaimed USDT goes into independent custody. CoinEx says it will charge custody fees, calculated monthly at 5% of the users’ asset balance at the end of the withdrawal period. The users have until August 22, 2028, to submit their claim by email. CoinEx Wallet and CoinEx Vault are separate businesses and are not affected by the exchange shutting down.
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