CoinEx, one of the longer-running centralized crypto exchanges, is shutting down after nearly nine years. The platform announced an orderly wind-down beginning September 15, 2026, giving users a roughly three-month window to withdraw their assets before it closes for good. If you hold anything on CoinEx, the most important thing is to act well before the deadlines, and to understand that some cutoffs come much sooner than the final close date.

What's happening

CoinEx, which launched in December 2017 and was founded by mining-pool operator ViaBTC's Haipo Yang, said it will cease operations and fully close by December 22, 2026. In his announcement, Yang was candid: CoinEx had survived multiple bull and bear cycles but never became a top-tier exchange, and, in his words, "carrying unlimited risk for limited revenue is no longer a rational choice." He said he'd considered selling the platform but chose an orderly wind-down instead, because users had entrusted their assets to it.

Importantly, this is a voluntary, orderly wind-down, not an insolvency. CoinEx says its reserve ratio exceeds 100% and all user assets are fully backed and available for withdrawal throughout the process, a crucial distinction from a collapse like FTX, where withdrawals froze immediately and funds were missing. Here, the company is returning holdings according to a published plan.

The withdrawal timeline (the part that matters)

CoinEx laid out a phased shutdown with several cutoffs. Track these, because trading stops long before withdrawals do:

  • September 15, 2026: New registrations, referral commissions, and rewards ended. Futures moved to "reduce-only" mode.
  • September 22, 2026: Margin trading, crypto loans, staking, Earn, and other non-spot services close. Most on-chain deposit addresses are disabled.
  • September 29, 2026: All spot trading pairs shut down, along with the CoinEx Smart Chain (CSC) and the OneSwap DEX. After this date, the platform becomes withdrawal-only.
  • December 22, 2026, 02:00 UTC: Withdrawals close entirely. The exchange is fully shut down.

That September 29 date is the sneaky-important one. Once spot trading ends, you can only withdraw an asset in whatever form it already sits in, you won't be able to swap it. So if you're holding an obscure token, the practical deadline to convert it into something easily withdrawable (like USDT) is the last week of September, not December.

The catches to watch

A few details could cost users money if ignored:

Unclaimed funds get fees. Any USDT not withdrawn by the December 22 deadline moves into independent custody with a 5% monthly fee running through August 2028. Leave money on the platform and it will steadily erode.

The CET token buyback. CoinEx's native token, CET, will be repurchased at 0.005 USDT each, with no quantity cap. Holders should compare that fixed rate to the market and act within the buyback window.

Illiquid assets may be delisted. For assets with no outside buy orders, CoinEx says it will gradually delist them and stop maintaining those wallets, another reason to move everything out early.

Withdraw early to avoid congestion. CoinEx itself is warning of possible network congestion, fee spikes, and slower confirmations as the deadline nears. Don't wait until December.

One piece of affiliated infrastructure survives: the ViaBTC mining pool, which shares founders with CoinEx, will continue operating independently.