AscendEX Withdrawals Stalled as ZachXBT Flags Liquidity Risk

AscendEX launched in 2018 as BitMax, founded by George Jing Cao and Ariel Ling. The exchange suffered a $78 million hack in December 2021, later attributed to North Korea’s Lazarus Group. In May 2026, AscendEX halted trading for two stablecoins after what it called a security incident involving irregular token minting. The exchange has not issued a statement on the current withdrawal delays. Its support documentation mentions occasional deposit and withdrawal slowdowns, and past maintenance notices cited wallet infrastructure upgrades. None of that addresses the present volume of complaints.

Frozen withdrawals have already attracted a secondary scam. Fraudsters are contacting affected users, offering fund recovery for upfront payments. These are well-established cons. ZachXBT noted that similar situations at other platforms this year, including JuCoin, have drawn the same pattern of predatory outreach.

Without independent proof of reserves or a timeline for resuming withdrawals, the uncertainty remains. Traders holding assets on AscendEX have few options beyond waiting for an official response or attempting to move funds that are not currently moving. The next concrete marker is any statement from the exchange – a proof-of-reserves document or a date for normal operations.