TL;DR:
- On-chain researcher ZachXBT detected a sharp shortage of highly liquid tokens like ETH, USDT, and SOL in the platform’s hot wallets.
- Exchange users reported that their withdrawal requests remain frozen in an “initiating” or pending status for several days, without registering a transaction hash.
- The company’s official support documentation establishes a maximum margin of two hours to provide a transfer identifier on the blockchain.
Alleged liquidity issues on the AscendEX platform were reported by blockchain researcher ZachXBT. The warning arose after examining their hot wallet addresses due to a wave of user complaints.
I recommend your team answers the following questions for the community:
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) June 26, 2026
1) Why are AscendEX users reporting delayed or incomplete withdrawals?
2) Why do the AscendEX hot wallets currently not have any liquid assets?
No one should deposit funds to this CEX. pic.twitter.com/tXDSm3bo2E
Shortage of liquid reserves triggers alarms
The specialist published his findings based on a review of data from analytics firms Arkham and TRM. According to his report, the operational wallets of the Asian-born firm lack major large-cap assets. This observation comes after an accumulation of customer reports on social media regarding stalled transactions.
The funds of the affected users disappear from their available balances but remain in a permanent digital limbo. Various testimonies reflect that the money remains fixed in pending mode without generating a traceable hash in block explorers. A trader linked to JurisProtocol detailed on June 22 that the exchange withheld their USDT earnings for more than three and a half days. Additionally, another complaint on web forums pointed to a delay of approximately 10 days in a PAXG withdrawal.
As a result of these anomalies in internal flows, the analyst publicly recommended refraining from making new deposits within the brand’s ecosystem.
However, the data gathered from analysis tools does not represent definitive proof of insolvency for the company. Exchange platforms usually safeguard the bulk of their customers’ assets in cold storage systems, which are frequently kept without public tags and are difficult to track externally. ZachXBT’s interpretation suggests that the firm could be experiencing temporary liquidity difficulties, steering away from a categorical declaration of bankruptcy.
Security background and active fraud risks
The company, which began operations in 2018 under the name BitMax, offers access to more than 250 digital assets according to its CoinMarketCap profile records. Confidence in the technical infrastructure has been previously affected by high-impact commercial security incidents.
During December 2021, the entity experienced a hack in its hot wallets that resulted in the loss of $78 million dollars on the Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, and Polygon networks, an action that subsequent investigations attributed to the Lazarus cyber group. Likewise, in May 2026, the administration temporarily suspended trading for two specific stablecoins, citing irregularities in the token issuance.
Traders currently facing capital lockups have become the target of online scam networks. Criminal organizations are offering fake fund recovery services by charging upfront fees. Informational channels urge affected users to channel their claims solely through the company’s institutional pathways, avoiding any interaction with unauthorized intermediaries.
At the closing of this report, the management team of the Asian company had not issued comments or official statements regarding the community’s questions.
