AscendEX withdrawal problems enter ninth day; ZachXBT urges affected users to contact authorities

ME News reported that on July 2 (UTC+8), on-chain investigator ZachXBT said AscendEX (formerly BitMax) has not posted any updates on X for nine consecutive days since his June 26 disclosure of suspected liquidity stress at the exchange. He added that withdrawal requests remain unprocessed while deposits are still enabled. ZachXBT said he reviewed a large user case in which the individual repeatedly reached out to AscendEX cofounder George (Jing) Cao without receiving a response. He recommended that users with frozen funds file reports with local law enforcement and financial regulators in their respective countries or regions. On June 26, ZachXBT previously warned that he had seen multiple user reports describing withdrawal delays lasting days or even weeks, as well as instances where withdrawals were not processed at all. After checking AscendEX's known hot wallets using Arkham and TRM, he said he did not observe meaningful reserves in major assets including ETH, USDT and SOL, raising concerns that the platform may be facing liquidity constraints. AscendEX was founded in 2018 by George (Jing) Cao and Ariel Ling. In December 2021, the exchange was targeted by North Korea's Lazarus Group, with losses estimated at about $78 million. (Source: BlockBeats)