AscendEX withdrawal issues persist for 9 days; users urged to report to authorities

ME News reports that on July 2 (UTC+8), on-chain investigator ZachXBT posted an update stating that since his disclosure on June 26 regarding suspected liquidity issues at AscendEX (formerly BitMax), the exchange has not posted any updates on X for nine consecutive days, withdrawal requests remain unprocessed, while deposit functionality remains active. ZachXBT noted that he reviewed a large-scale user case and found the user had repeatedly contacted AscendEX co-founder George (Jing) Cao regarding the issue without receiving any response. He advised users with frozen funds to file reports with law enforcement and regulatory authorities in their respective countries or regions. Previously, on June 26, ZachXBT had warned that he observed multiple user reports of withdrawal delays lasting days or even weeks, or complete failure to process withdrawals. After reviewing AscendEX’s known hot wallets via Arkham and TRM, he found a lack of reserves in major assets such as ETH, USDT, and SOL, suggesting the platform may be experiencing liquidity difficulties. AscendEX, founded in 2018 by George (Jing) Cao and Ariel Ling, was previously targeted in December 2021 by the North Korean hacking group Lazarus Group, resulting in losses of approximately $78 million. (Source: BlockBeats)