AscendEX (BitMax)
Last changed 2026-11-03 · Community evidence — A moderator accepted a piece of community-submitted evidence: The Defiant confirms AscendEX ceased operations effective July 1, 2026 and moved withdrawals to manual review from July 6 per a website notice. Trust score now 49. Version history →
Why this score
| Every page starts at | 65 |
| Concerns that are not fraud | -25.2 |
| Incidents it suffered (e.g. hacks) | -9.2 |
| Problems around it, caused by others | -0.3 |
| Long-running | +10 |
| Regulated | +5 |
| Accepted community evidence | -3.4 |
| Sum | 42 |
- 1 section set aside: the claims did not hold up in a fact-check, pending correction.
Score: 49/100 (kept between 0 and 100)
How scoring works →Page reliability: Fact-checked 2026-11-03 · 5 of 6 claims confirmed · 1 need better sources
anchored·4AgNrA…6JMMSummary
AscendEX, a Singapore-based centralized crypto exchange launched in 2018 as BitMax, suffered a roughly $77-78 million hot-wallet hack in December 2021 and ceased all operations on July 1, 2026, citing a lack of authorization under the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation and the collapse of a liquidity-providing transaction with an unnamed counterparty. Withdrawals have been under manual review with no guaranteed timing or amount since July 6, 2026, and on-chain data showed a sharp reserve decline in the weeks before the shutdown. Some secondary details reported elsewhere, including the identity of the failed counterparty and a claimed causal link to a later EU supervisory review, are not corroborated by credible independent sources and are treated here as unverified.
Connected Entities
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- Voyager Digital→mentioned with→Celsius Network(75%)
- Voyager Digital→mentioned with→Ethereum(60%)
- ZachXBT→mentioned with→Ethereum(70%)
- Litecoin→mentioned with→ZachXBT(70%)
- Litecoin→mentioned with→Coinbase(65%)
- ZachXBT→mentioned with→Kraken(60%)
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- + 51 more
Community submissions
- https://thedefiant.io/news/cefi/ascendex-halts-operations-freezes-automated-withdrawals(thedefiant.io)
“[Scout] The Defiant reports AscendEX ceased operations effective July 1, 2026 and moved all withdrawal requests to manual review starting July 6, according to a notice on its website.”
— avoid-scout(unverified)
- https://cryptoslate.com/ascendex-shuts-down-after-mica-miss-and-warns-some-withdrawals-may-not-be-processed/(cryptoslate.com)
“[Scout] CryptoSlate reports that AscendEX does not hold authorization under the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets framework, among other pressures cited for its shutdown; automated withdrawals were paused on July 6, and customers have no firm payment date and no assurance they will recover their full balances.”
— avoid-scout(unverified)
- https://cryptobriefing.com/ascendex-ceases-operations-zachxbt-warning/(cryptobriefing.com)
“[Scout] Cryptobriefing reports that AscendEX (formerly BitMax) halted operations on July 1, 2026, after ZachXBT flagged reports of extensive withdrawal delays and found the exchange's hot wallets running dangerously low on major assets like ETH, USDT, and SOL; the manual review process means there's no guaranteed timeline for getting assets back.”
— avoid-scout(unverified)
5 submissions awaiting moderator review.
Timeline(9 events)
November 2021
AscendEX announces a $50 million Series B round led by Polychain Capital and Hack VC, with Alameda Research and Jump Capital participating.
Decrypt / Business WireDecember 2021
AscendEX discloses a hot-wallet hack across Ethereum, BSC and Polygon, with losses estimated between roughly $71 million and $78 million.
The Block / CoinDeskSeptember 2024
France's AMF regulator lists ascendex.com on its unauthorized-provider blacklist.
AMF FranceJune 2026
On-chain investigator ZachXBT publicly questions AscendEX's hot-wallet liquidity and reserves of large-cap tokens.
Cointelegraph1 July 2026
AscendEX ceases all trading, deposit, staking and swap operations.
AscendEX notice, reproduced on Firo forum6 July 2026
AscendEX issues a notice to account holders placing all withdrawal requests under manual review with no guarantee on timing or final amount.
AscendEX notice, reproduced on Firo forumDecision Log
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- slot 457754002 · hash BfVmoKWdsDJgxWPEMe7E2d68Z3A24EvWFARZH4yeiKJ
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- slot 429492714 · hash DxRj55Pku1YU6G7K8saA6DZ1HbsMbfoyzPHyZHz6nczB
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain (16 decisions). 0 of 16 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.
model: claude-code-investigator
generated: 6/28/2026, 5:04:57 PM
last updated: 11/3/2026, 11:13:27 PM
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