Another Crypto Exchange Halts Withdrawals on Heels of FTX Collapse: Details

As reported by Wu Blockchain, a worrisome drama is playing out on the Hong Kong-based crypto exchange, BitCoke. The issue started when its users reported experiencing difficulty with withdrawals.

BitCoke issued an announcement saying that the person in charge of finance was cooperating with public security in an investigation and could not provide the private key authorization.

The exchange BitCoke experienced difficulty in withdrawing coins, many users were unable to withdraw coins for more than 24 hours. At the beginning of 2022, BitCoke issued its own platform coin and received 20 million investment from more than ten capitals including Huobi and LD.

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) November 13, 2022

Consequently, BitCoke suspended withdrawals on Nov. 13, 1 p.m. Hong Kong time.

The BitCoke exchange case is surprising, as it revealed in May this year that it had raised $20 million in a strategic private round. The financing deal was reached with a group of investors led by the Huobi exchange, which also includes other notable institutions such as Redline DAO, Krypital, LD Capital, Hotbit and several others.

A month later, the exchange announced the launch of BitCoke Ventures, its affiliated investment arm, and a $300 million investment fund to foster exchange outreach.

The past week was a chaotic one that saw the collapse of the FTX empire and the ouster of founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

FTX halted withdrawals earlier this week, though certain customers in countries including Turkey, Japan and the Bahamas were still able to withdraw on Friday. On Thursday, the FTX U.S. subsidiary informed users that it might suspend trading soon, but said that withdrawals would not be affected.

Binance delists FTT pairs

Binance, the leading cryptocurrency exchange, announced that it will remove and delist FTT from some of its products — Simple Earn, its isolated and cross margins and perpetual contracts — to protect users.

Binance says it will cease trading FTT pairings with BUSD, USDT and BTC on both cross and isolated margin platforms on Nov. 13 at 11:30 a.m. UTC. Binance Simple Earn will delist FTT from Flexible Products on Nov. 14 at 4:30 a.m. UTC.

Likewise, Binance Liquid Swap will delist FTT/USDT, FTT/BUSD, FTT/BTC and FTT/BNB pairs on Nov. 14; the same holds for Binance Auto-Invest, which will delist FTT on the same date.