Sheldon Xia

1 January 2013

Sheldon Xia encounters Bitcoin as a college sophomore and launches DSCoin, participating in early Chinese cryptocurrency trading.

1 January 2015

Xia begins M.S. in Computer Science at Stevens Institute of Technology; graduates 2017.

1 January 2017

Xia founds BitMart cryptocurrency exchange.

1 July 2021

BitMart establishes Cipholio Ventures (rebranded from BitMart Labs); Xia serves as Founding Partner.

4 December 2021

BitMart suffers a hot-wallet security breach. Security firm PeckShield estimates losses at approximately $196 million across Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain hot wallets.

5 December 2021

Xia confirms the hack, attributes it to a stolen private key, and pledges BitMart will compensate all affected users from company funds.

7 January 2022

CNBC reports that hack victims have still not received compensation from BitMart more than a month after the breach, despite the public pledge.

1 August 2022

FTC denies BitMart's petition to block civil subpoenas, confirming the agency's probe is the first known FTC investigation into a crypto exchange.

1 January 2023

FTC's investigation into BitMart is reportedly dismissed. No enforcement action or court ruling on the merits was announced.

23 April 2025

BitMart announces a leadership transition: Xia moves from CEO to Group President; Nenter Chow is appointed Global CEO.

24 July 2026

Nathan Chow, BitMart's Global CEO, is notified of his termination. He later states publicly he was not consulted about the wind-down decision.

26 July 2026

BitMart publicly announces it will wind down operations, halting new registrations. Withdrawal access is stated to remain open during the wind-down. Users immediately begin reporting withdrawal problems.

8 August 2026

Xia issues a statement denying any wrongdoing concerning misappropriation of funds and states the core team is conducting an asset inventory.

17 August 2026

BitMart's official Chinese-language X account posts an open letter demanding Xia disclose asset status, wallet addresses, and a repayment plan by August 19, or evidence would be submitted to regulators and law enforcement worldwide.

17 August 2026

Xia responds within hours, calling the demands 'fabricated rumors' and claiming the BitMart Chinese-language account had been hacked. He states he will file a police report and pursue legal action.

21 August 2026

BitMart's last substantive public update before trading cessation. The exchange promises a restructuring roadmap by September 9.

22 August 2026

CoinDesk reports BitMart has hired White & Case as restructuring counsel and is exploring options including partial restart and creditor distributions as alternatives to a complete wind-down.

26 August 2026

BitMart halts all trading. On-chain data shows only 58 wallets withdrew approximately $805,000 in the first 24 hours — a negligible fraction of reported user balances.

1 September 2026

Users continue reporting unresolved withdrawal requests five weeks after the July 26 shutdown announcement. BitMart's official channels have issued no operational update since August 21.