BitMart suspended all fiat and crypto deposits early Sunday morning—a move that precedes a permanent shutdown of its trading operations in late August. And reports indicate that BitMart withdrawals appear to slow following wind-down announcement notices sent to retail customers. Extended processing times now plague customers attempting to pull their assets. Mandatory compliance checks and network bottlenecks are driving these delays.
On July 26, spot markets officially stopped accepting new orders as futures accounts shifted into reduce-only mode. All trading services permanently end on August 26. Users must submit their final withdrawal requests four hours later. Management warned users about severe bottlenecks. Required KYC verifications, blockchain risk assessments, and rigid sanctions screening are causing these extended processing delays. But the company explicitly warned customers to ignore scammers demanding security deposits to speed up the withdrawal process.
Internal communications suggest executive disarray. Former CEO Nenter Chow published a public statement confirming his abrupt termination occurred on Friday. The board entirely excluded him from the shutdown decision. In fact, Chow discovered the wind-down plan only after reading the public notice online, a timeline verified by Cointelegraph. BitMart declined to comment on his dismissal.
The closure triggered a massive selloff of the platform’s native token. BMX crashed nearly 70 percent over the weekend, dropping from $0.31 late Friday to a low of $0.1058 early Saturday. The asset currently trades at roughly $0.094. On-chain data from Arkham Intelligence paints a troubling liquidity picture, as wallets linked to the exchange held $71 million in crypto assets on Sunday. That balance is a steep drop from $102 million in early July. Over $41 million of the remaining total consists of WeFi tokens. So the tracked wallets currently hold a mere $91,000 in Tether. Customers on social media confirmed pending Tether withdrawal requests sitting unfulfilled for hours.
Mid-tier cryptocurrency exchanges are rapidly closing their doors. BitMEX announced a complete shutdown scheduled for September 23—ending an 11-year run. EXMO.com initiated a similar wind-down earlier this month after appearing on a UK government sanctions list, according to a finance industry report detailing BDSwiss halting retail onboarding. BitMart cited generic operating conditions and a future strategic direction as the main reasons they are closing.
The Liquidity Trap Facing Offshore Crypto Customers
When an offshore platform halts operations, the resulting panic drains liquid assets like USDT almost instantly. The on-chain data shows BitMart wallets holding just $91,000 in Tether against $41 million in illiquid WeFi tokens. Bank runs fracture smaller exchanges exactly like this. Retail capital is fleeing toward regulated entities capable of absorbing market shocks.
Smaller platforms simply can’t afford the overhead required to maintain compliance. Traders are left trapped waiting for the liquidity they were counting on. The entire BitMart infrastructure officially goes offline on January 31, 2027.