A top cryptocurrency exchange OkEx has suddenly halted withdrawals of cryptocurrency assets from the exchange by traders.
OkEx has halted withdrawal of cryptocurrency assets claiming that one of its private keys holder is “currently cooperating with a public security bureau” concerning ongoing “investigations.”
The announcement was made on 16th October, citing the terms and conditions of service, the exchange decided to suspend withdrawals until the private key holder of the exchange’s wallet is back in contact. But OKEx assured all users of the exchange about security of their crypto assets.
All operations @OKEx except digital asset/cryptocurrency withdrawals remain unaffected.
All your funds and assets are safe.
The investigation concerns a certain private key holder’s personal issue only. Further announcements will be made.
— Jay_OKEX_CEO (@JayHao8) October 16, 2020
Cryptocurrency market takes a hit
When the reports of this news surfaced, Bitcoin fell over 3% and the exchange native token OKB took a 15% dive down too. Top cryptocurrencies including Ethereum, Ripple, EOS, BNB and others also dropped.
Hours before the announcement, Whale Alert noticed some huge cryptocurrency withdrawals from OKEx to privately owned wallets.
Outgoing transfers of 1,180 BTC worth $13.6 million, 21,000 ETH worth $7+ million, 50 million Tron (TRX) worth $1.3 million and aslo $13.9 million in Tether (USDT) was deposited into the exchange.
It’s normal to see large transactions like this withdrawn from cryptocurrency exchanges when there’s been a security breach. This also happened during the Kucoin and Bitfinex hack. Although it may all be coincidental, since large amounts of crypto assets are transferred daily by whales.