okb - Pwim.Net

OKEX Suspends Withdrawals Causing a Bitcoin and OKB Token Price Plunge

Leading Asian cryptocurrency exchange OKEx has caused a mild selling panic in the crypto markets after suddenly suspending its services to cooperate with an investigation. The suspension of services immediately stirred a reaction in the Bitcoin price which plunged 3% while OKB took a 15% hit.

According to an announcement by the major crypto exchange today, OkEx has suspended all cryptocurrency withdrawals as one of its private key holders is now cooperating with a public security firm in regard to an ongoing “investigation.”

Per the OKEx statement:

“One of our private key holders is currently cooperating with a public security bureau in investigations where required […] In order to act in the best interests of customers and deliver exceptional longtime customer service, we have decided to suspend digital assets/cryptocurrencies withdrawals as of [October 16, 2020 at 11:00 (Hong Kong Time)]. We assure that OKEx’s other functions remain normal and stable and the security of your assets at OKEx will not affected.”

OKEx serves many Chinese retail investors and is one of the three largest Chinese crypto exchanges along with Huobi and Binance.

The company’s CEO, Jay Hao addressed the withdrawal suspension on Weibo:

“Please be assured that the company, operation, and business are not impacted. It’s a matter of a private key holder’s personal issue, which is why we suspended withdrawal.”

The exchange has not been able to contact the private key-holder in question and claims to be unable to complete the associated authorization requests—OKEx assures the public that cryptocurrency withdrawals can resume as soon as the key-holder is able to authorize the transaction in question.

The Bitcoin (BTC) price has fallen nearly 3% following the news and OKEx’s own token OKB has crashed around 15%.

Is it Money Laundering?

While the information is largely unverified—a Beijing based reporter named Colin Wu has been following the event and tweeted:

“OTC merchant on OKEx had mistakenly received 500,000 CNY from the fraud group and was hunted by the police across the provinces.”

Wu also reported that the notice of the end of the withdrawal suspension fluctuates constantly between 12pm and 3pm. He further suggested that the events may be related to money laundering.

Wu wrote:

“The Chinese government is cracking down on money laundering using cryptocurrency for telecom fraud, and centralized exchanges are in a very dangerous state.”

More updates will come soon as more information on the OKEx suspension is revealed.

OKEx Founder Star Xu Arrested After Crypto Exchange Suspends Withdrawals

According to Caixin news, OKEx founder Mingxing ‘Star’ Xu has allegedly been arrested by police following the major crypto exchanges sudden suspension of its withdrawals as one of its private key holders was said to have been cooperating with a public security firm in regard to an ongoing “investigation.”

The news of leading Asian cryptocurrency exchange OKEx suddenly suspending its services to cooperate with an investigation drove the crypto markets into a panic—and it has now been reported that the person cooperating with authorities was the founder of the exchange Star Xu.

The suspension of services immediately stirred a reaction in the Bitcoin price which plunged 3% while OKB took a 15% hit.

The exchange reported at the time of the service suspension, that it had been unable a private key-holder in question and claimed to be unable to complete the associated authorization requests. The private key holder in question was Mingxing Xu, who has now been taken into police custody.

Two other sources close to OKEx told Caixin News, that they confirmed the key holder under investigation was Star Xu, OKEx’s founder, who was “cooperating with the investigation by the public security authorities” per the exchange announcement.

One of the sources also reported that Xu had been taken for questioning by authorities last week and did not appear at work for several days. The source described Xu as being very detail-oriented in financial expenditure management and it seems obvious to them that the delays were due to his inability to authorize the withdrawals as one of the main private key holders.

OKG Holdings Says OKEx Founder Investigation Won't Impact Business, OKB Price Plunges Further

As OKEx founder Mingxing ‘Star’ Xu remains under investigation following the suspension of the exchange’s withdrawal service, OKG Technology Holdings Limited has told its shareholders that business operations won’t be affected—even though Xu is a controlling shareholder of the publicly listed company. Despite Xu being under investigation by Chinese authorities and a controlling shareholder in OKG Holdings (Stock Code: 1499), the company announced that they expect the investigation into the OKEx founder to have little effect on its business operations or that of its subsidiaries.

OKEx Suspension and Founder Investigation

Last week, leading Asian cryptocurrency exchange OKEx caused panic in the crypto markets after suddenly suspending its withdrawals to cooperate with an investigation.

The suspension of services immediately stirred a reaction in the Bitcoin (BTC) price which plunged 3% while OKB took a 15% hit on the day.

According to the first announcement by the major crypto exchange on Oct. 16, OKEx had suspended all cryptocurrency withdrawals as one of its private key holders was cooperating with a public security firm in regard to an ongoing “investigation.”

Soon after on the same day, it was reported by Caixin news, that the private key holder under investigation was OKEx founder Mingxing ‘Star’ Xu.

Xu had allegedly been taken into custody by police following the major crypto exchanges sudden suspension of its withdrawals as one of its private key holders was said to have been cooperating with a public security firm in regard to an ongoing “investigation”, according to two other sources close to OKEx.

According to the OKG Holdings announcement on Oct.18, the board of directors of the company was notified by the legal counsel acting for OKC Holdings Corporation on 16 October 2020 that Mr. Xu Mingxing is presently under an investigation by public security authority in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). OKG Technology has not yet been able to contact Mr. Xu to confirm the information.

Per the announcement:

“Mr. Xu is a non-executive Director of the Company and also the controlling shareholder of the Company (OKG) through his interests in OKC. As of the date of this announcement, OKC holds 3,904,925,001 shares of the Company, representing 72.60% of the total issued share capital of the Company.”

The OKG technology said that to the best of their knowledge the board is not subject to any ongoing government investigation in the PRC. The announcement also highlighted that they expect that the investigation with Mr. Xu will not have any material effect on the business operations or financial position of the OKG and its subsidiaries.

BTC Price Recover, OKB continues Plunge

As reported, following the suspension of services on Oct.16 at OKEx, the BTC price fell around 3%, but has now recovered from the scare and is currently valued at $11,467.35 at the time of writing. The OKEx token (OKB) however has continued to fall. Prior to the OKEx suspension of withdrawals, the OKB price was around $5.88, it then plunged 35% before making a slight recovery. At the time of writing OKB, token price sits at $4.71 around 20% lower than Oct. 16.

OKB Token Price Rises Over 10% on News of OKEx Exchange Founder’s Release

The OKB token price surged over 10% today on the back of circulating rumors of OKEx exchange founder Mingxing “Star” Xu’s potential release from the custody of Chinese authorities.

A Chinese crypto reporter “Wu Blockchain” has posted on Twitter that OKEx founder Star Xu may be free on bail soon and that Chinese authorities are unsure where or not to continue their investigation. The OKB price immediately surged more than 10% on the news, with the exchange’s native token at $5.40 at the time of writing up form $4.81.

On Oct 16, leading Asian cryptocurrency exchange OKEx caused a mild selling panic in the crypto markets after suddenly suspending its services to cooperate with an investigation with Chinese authorities. The suspension of services immediately stirred a reaction in the Bitcoin price which plunged 3% while OKB token also took a 15% hit—falling from nearly $6.00 to $4.25.

At the time, the major crypto exchange’s sudden suspension of its withdrawals was explained as one of its private key holders was said to have been cooperating with a public security firm in regard to an ongoing “investigation.” OKEx founder Mingxing ‘Star’ Xu was arrested by police shortly after withdrawal services were suspended.

Representatives from OKEx reportedly denied rumors that Xu was detained for any money laundering activities.

According to Wu Blockchain’s post on Nov 19, Star Xu may be released on bail soon and Chinese authorities are considering discontinuing their investigation into the OKEx founder. The reporter wrote, “This may bring a little bit of optimism in the investigation storm sweeping the Chinese crypto industry.”

Wu Blockchain also mentioned the development may be positive for the investigation surrounding the COO of Huobi as part of the investigation storm. He wrote:

“On the other hand, the COO of Huobi was also investigated by Shanxi police in early November. Several employees involved in OTC were reported to assist in the investigation. But Xu’s gaining a certain degree of freedom may also be good news for Huobi.”

The optimism may be spreading as trading volumes for the OKB token has been steadily rising with $56 million in trades on Monday compared to the $143 million in OKB traded today, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

While Star Xu may soon be released, the OKEx exchange has still not resumed withdrawal services and a message from an OKEx administrator apologized for the inconvenience but failed to give a time frame for when this service will be available.

Leading Altcoins in the Market Uptrend Today: SNX, TEL, and OKB

While the 1.99% growth in the total market capitalisation of the cryptocurrency industry deserves applause, it is a far cry from the $2.5 trillion it once recorded back in May.

Attributed to the Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubts (FUD) spread by Tesla CEO Elon Musk and China’s ensuing ban on crypto. The entire crypto ecosystem has crumbled under the weight of bearish sell-offs. This has placed many coins at their lowest levels in weeks.

At present, the cryptocurrency ecosystem recorded a weekend in which selling activities were overshadowed by the bulls, as showcased by a robust trading volume. The ensuing influence has stirred a massive price jump on some altcoins, and three of the outperforming coins are profiled below;

OKB (OKB)

OKB remains one of the best performers today, rising 13.03% in the past 24 hours to $10.90. OKB has had its fair share of the ensuring market dip, dropping from its All-Time High (ATH) of $44.17 attained over two months ago. While the coin is 75% below the price level, it has outperformed compared to its All-Time Low (ATL) value of $1.25 attained since 2019.

Telcoin (TEL)

Telcoin is one of the low-priced altcoins, currently changing hands $0.01949 at 25.85% growth in the past 24 hours. While Telcoin is designed to serve as a bridge between cryptos, blockchain, and the telecommunication industry, it has notably gained remarkable traction in the remittance industry. The remarkable growth of Telcoin has pushed it up more than 29,000% from its ATL set about a year ago.

Synthetic (SNX)

Meanwhile, this DeFi token is one of the top performers amongst its peers, rising 20.33% to $13.18. SNX is one of the most versatile altcoins, previously ranking as one of the best gainers per an earlier Blockchain.News report. While SNX as a derivatives market boasts $1.21 billion in Total Value Locked, the token has parred off most of its gains in the past five months.