ZachXBT Warns AscendEX Users of Potential Liquidity Issues and Delayed Withdrawals
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT has issued a warning to users of the centralized exchange AscendEX (formerly Bitmax), reporting that many are experiencing significant withdrawal delays. In a Telegram post, he noted multiple reports of transactions being stalled for days or even weeks, with some requests never being processed.
After analyzing known hot wallets on Arkham and TRM, ZachXBT observed that the exchange’s reserves appear to be lacking large-cap tokens such as USDT, ETH, and SOL. This suggests that AscendEX is likely facing liquidity issues. He provided several Solana, Tron, and EVM wallet addresses used in the investigation.
Community reports on Reddit describe users seeing their withdrawal status stuck on “initiating” for over a week. One user claimed that their funds were debited from their available balance but no transaction ID was generated, leaving the assets locked without any explanation from the platform.
As of now, AscendEX has not issued any public response to the concerns, nor has it provided meaningful assistance through its support channels. The exchange was founded in 2018 by George Cao and Ariel Ling, and was previously hacked by North Korea’s Lazarus Group in December 2021, resulting in a $78 million loss.
This is not the first time ZachXBT has flagged exchange reserve issues. Recently, he also raised concerns about JuCoin, alleging that its reported $511 million reserves were not backed by liquid assets, with most of the funds tied to USDC and USDT issued on its own JuChain without clear backing. JuCoin’s team attributed the disruptions to ongoing upgrades and restructuring, but affected users continue to demand transparency and assurance that their assets are available for transfer.
While the immediate focus remains on AscendEX, the pattern of delayed withdrawals and unclear reserve transparency highlights ongoing challenges in the centralized exchange sector.