Bitcoin exchange Zipmex, which serves Southeast Asian countries, has recently started stopping withdrawals frequently. On top of that, the Thailand Securities and Exchange Commission is launching an investigation into this incident.
Regulators are looking for aggrieved investors
According to Reuters, Thailand’s regulator and law enforcement began investigating the grievance caused by the exchange. Regulators collect feedback on the exchange from Zipmex users. Additionally, during the investigation, complaints from investors regarding Zipmex are collected. These will be used as evidence for the forbidden period.
Zipmex is mostly used in Thailand, Singapore, Australia and Indonesia. The exchange suspended withdrawals on July 20. According to the statement made by Zipmex, the decision to stop trading is taken to protect investors in extremely volatile market conditions. Exchange officials also stated that they will comply with the regulator’s request. According to Zipmex representatives, the exchange is in constant contact with government agencies.
The release of this information coincides with the announcement that Thai lending platform SCB X PCl will extend due diligence on its $537 million investment in cryptocurrency exchange Butkub.
Bitcoin exchange locks investors’ funds into other credit markets
Zipmex is thought to be in the current liquidity crisis. The exchange’s funds were briefly stuck in other lending platforms. But that same evening, the withdrawal service was reinstated in Thailand. Meanwhile, withdrawals in other countries were still pending. On July 21, Zipmex announced in a blog post that they are extending their maintenance period and that operations will be suspended until further notice.
Later, investigations revealed that Zipmex has a total of $53 million in locked funds in Celsuis and Babel Finance. He stated that he is in constant communication with Babel Finance to address his $48 million exposure to the cryptocurrency lending company. Meanwhile, a Babel representative emphasized that the company is aggressively addressing the issue to avoid any loss of users. Meanwhile, Zipmex isn’t the only cryptocurrency company experiencing such woes as a result of the crypto market crashing significantly.
