Crypto Exchange CoinEx Is Shutting Down After Nine Years, Giving Users Until December to Cash Out

In brief

• CoinEx will formally close on Dec. 22, 2026, nine years to the day after it launched, with new signups already halted and spot trading ending Sept. 29.
• Founder and CEO Haipo Yang said he rejected a sale in favor of a "clean ending," and CoinEx will repurchase its CET token at its original 0.005 USDT listing price with no cap.
• CoinEx joins BitMEX and BitMart in a wave of 2026 exchange closures, months after facing separate scrutiny over alleged Iran-linked crypto flows.

Cryptocurrency exchange CoinEx said Tuesday it will cease operations and begin an orderly wind-down, closing the exchange on Dec. 22—nine years to the day after it went live in 2017. Users have until that deadline to withdraw their funds.

Founder and CEO Haipo Yang tied the decision to a mix of prolonged market weakness and mounting compliance demands. "The security and compliance risks of running a crypto exchange have become increasingly difficult to contain," Yang wrote on X, framing the closure as a deliberate exit rather than a forced one.

Yang said he seriously considered selling CoinEx but decided against it. He wanted what he called a "clean ending" for the platform's staff, users, and CoinEx token holders, rather than handing the exchange to a new owner.