Data shows that the prominent cryptocurrency exchange that halted withdrawals indefinitely over one of its private key holders being “out of touch” with the firm while “cooperating with a public security bureau in investigations,” has over 200,000 BTC, worth over $2.2 billion, in its wallets.
Data from Glassnode seems to show that 1.1% of BTC’s circulating supply is stored in the cryptocurrency exchange’s vaults. It’s worth pointing out here OKEx is one of the leading crypto exchanges in the cryptocurrency space, along with Binance, Huobi, and Coinbase.
Data from another provider, ChainInfo, points to OKEx having a total of 276,184 BTC across 339,297 different addresses on the Bitcoin blockchain. The figure is equivalent to $3.1 billion worth of bitcoin that is currently seemingly inaccessible.
As CryptoGlobe reported, OKEx published a notice revealing that the private key holder is “out of touch” with the firm, preventing withdrawals from being processed. The notice adds other functions on the exchange remain stable and that the security of users’ cryptoassets wasn’t affected. Withdrawals are set to restart “once the concerned private key holder is able to authorize the transaction.”.
OKEx’s CEO, Hay Hao, revealed on social media that all other OKEx operations remain unaffected and that users’ funds are safe. Per his words, the investigation “concerns a certain private key holder’s personal issue only.”
Further announcements are set to be made as the situation develops. In a statement, the cryptocurrency exchange further assured users their funds are safe and noted it will continue to “uphold our commitment to delivering first-class products and services to our users and would like to thank you for your patience and support at this time.”
Hao added to the statement:
We understand that the suspension of withdrawals directly impacts our users’ experience on OKEx, and we wholeheartedly apologize for this. All other activities — including deposits, spot trading, derivatives, staking, etc. — remain unaffected, and we would like to provide our assurance to all our customers that their funds are safe.
Withdrawals are set to resume as soon as the private key holder is in contact with OKEx again to authorize the transactions, the notice said.
Featured image via Pixabay.
