Breaking: BitForex Receives Regulatory Approval To Resume User Withdrawals

BitForex, a cryptocurrency exchange, will resume user withdrawal services after being shut down for five months. This action comes after the Jiangsu Province police in China have detained the BitForex team on February 23rd due to an investigation.

BitForex Approval to Resume User Withdrawals

In a post on X (previously Twitter), BitForex stated that it will resume withdrawals while trading and deposits will still be prohibited. To withdraw the funds, users have to go through the KYC procedures and identify themselves. The exchange had shut operations since February 23, after a $57 million exodus and a police raid in Jiangsu Province, China.

According to the exchange’s statement, 

“On February 23, 2024, the BitForex team was detained and investigated by the Jiangsu Province police in China. This event led to the suspension of the platform and the inability of users to withdraw their assets on that day.” 

The exchange also announced that it will shut down all its operations and go through comprehensive rectification process after returning the assets to the users.

Operational Changes and User Guidance

The exchange made a detailed description of the reopening and new measures that will be implemented by BitForex. Every trading operation on the given platform will be halted to avoid transactions that include the buying or selling of assets. 

At this time, the user registration will be suspended, and users will be prohibited from adding funds to their platform wallets. Services and products provided by the platform will also be halted to carry out this rectification measure.

Dear Bitforex Users,

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and concerns you have experienced during this period. On February 23, 2024, the Bitforex team was detained and investigated by the Jiangsu Province police in China. This unexpected event caused the platform to…

— BitForex (@bitforexcom) July 19, 2024

Withdrawal will be made directly to the personal wallet or any other third-party wallet of the user’s choice. Customers with perpetual contracts have to submit their KYC documents, comprising a passport and phone number to make a withdrawal.

BitForex assured its users that it had taken all necessary measures to secure user assets and apologized for the inconvenience and distress caused by the incident.

Background and Regulatory Scrutiny

The investigation of the Jiangsu Province police, that captured the BitForex team, started after the exchange saw a mass outflow of funds. The exchange witnessed a $57 million outflow on February 23, and this forced the authorities to act.

The closure of the platform also raised concerns from different regulatory authorities such as the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) that warned the users of the platform.

In June, according to a Coingape report, appeared that the hot wallet of BitForex had been activated again and contained $43 million TRB tokens. This came after the exchange had not been very active since February 21 and has sparked debates on the exchange’s compliance measures and future plan.

Some on-chain analysts such as SomaXBT pointed out that the hot wallet was active again and this can affect the withdrawal of cryptocurrencies and other market activities.

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