CoinEx, BitMEX and Orionx close within three weeks: the withdrawal deadlines

Three crypto exchanges closed or began closing in September 2026. Two of the closures are orderly and one is not. If you have a balance on any of them, the dates below are the ones that matter.

CoinEx: withdraw before 22 December

CoinEx announced on 15 September that it will cease operations after nine years. Founder Haipo Yang gave the reason about as plainly as such statements get: CoinEx "did not become one of the industry's leading exchanges and the security and compliance risks of running a crypto exchange have become increasingly difficult to contain". He said he preferred "a clean ending" to a sale.

• Withdrawals are open until 02:00 UTC on 22 December 2026.
• After that, assets left behind are charged a custody fee of 5% a month.
• Claims are accepted until 22 August 2028.
• CoinEx says its reserves are above 100% and all user assets can be withdrawn.

One thing is not clear from the public notices: whether a user who never verified an account will be asked for documents to claim funds after the deadline. The simple way not to find out is to withdraw before it.

BitMEX: trading has stopped, fees have started

BitMEX announced its closure on 23 July and stopped trading at 04:00 UTC on 23 September 2026. Withdrawals remain open on the website. Balances left behind are charged the greater of $50 or 1% a year, billed monthly; according to press reports this applies to verified accounts.

Orionx: withdrawals frozen

Chile's Orionx is the disorderly one. It closed on 3 September and suspended all withdrawals after a forensic audit found more than $7 million missing across bitcoin, ether, XRP and POL. More than 100,000 users cannot withdraw. Criminal complaints have been filed against two co-founders over transfers made between 2018 and 2021; both deny wrongdoing. Orionx says withdrawals are suspended "so one group of customers doesn't get ahead of another" while a closure plan is worked out.

What the three have in common

In each case the customer's position depends on a company's timetable. The CoinEx and BitMEX closures are about as well run as a shutdown can be, and they still put a date on your money and a fee on your delay. At Orionx an audit decides when funds move, and the customer does not.

An exchange is a convenient place to trade and a poor place to store. If losing access to a balance for a month would hurt, it belongs in a wallet whose keys you hold. Wallets of that kind are listed in the wallets category, and what separates one from another is covered in the note on anonymous wallets.

Sources: CoinDesk, 15 Sept 2026 — CoinEx to cease operations, The Daily Hodl, 17 Sept 2026 — CoinEx deadlines, CoinDesk, 23 Sept 2026 — BitMEX shuts down trading, Crypto Briefing, 6 Sept 2026 — Orionx