Users withdrew a record 29,300 BTC from OKEx after the Malta-based cryptocurrency exchange resumed withdrawals yesterday. This comes after bitcoin (BTC) price kickstarted its epic freefall dropping to levels near $16,500 before bouncing back up again. But what is the reason behind the massive bitcoin exodus out of OKEx?
As per the latest update from on-chain and market analysis firm Glassnode, OKEx users have withdrawn a record 29,300 bitcoins after the exchange gave the green signal for resuming withdrawals yesterday. These BTC transactions amount to roughly $5 billion (considering the current spot rates).
Glassnode also observed a deposit of 21,600 BTC on OKEx. Withdrawals and deposits together had a depreciating effect on the exchange’s overall bitcoin balance which reduced to around 212,000 BTC.
The potential cause behind the massive exodus of bitcoin holdings could be a result of users leaving OKEx in search of other alternatives. Binance, Huobi, and some third party wallets were at the receiving end of the initial bitcoin transfers from the exchange.
OKex announced the resumption of withdrawals on November 19. Few folks welcomed the developments, but most of them seemed miffed with the exchange’s recent bitcoin and crypto withdrawal suspension, with a lot of users demanding compensation else they make their move to other platforms.
As reported by CryptoPotato, OKEx had more than 200,000 BTC stored in their wallets during the ‘withdrawal lockdown.’
Although OKEx CEO Jay Hao assured users that their funds are safe and that there’s no “cause for alarm,” the vastness of the above bitcoin stash is pretty alarming. Especially because it is controlled by one single organization.
What’s more disappointing is that the official who had access to the private keys was ‘out of touch’ with the management. The OKEx personnel wasn’t able to reach out to him. This is not desirable since it poses huge risks to these BTC stashes falling prey to coordinated attacks that target centralized points of failure.