Hong Kong-based crypto trading platform BitForex has recently become the center of attention in the crypto community as it went offline following suspicious trading activities.
Renowned blockchain investigator ZachXBT called attention to the development surrounding the exchange in a recent post on X. ZachXBT noted that he observed some questionable activities with BitForex.
BitForex Ghosts Users
The investigator highlighted that BitForex’s hot wallets experienced outflows of about $56.5 million three days ago. According to him, shortly after this incident, customer withdrawals stopped processing.
Now, users seeking to access BitForex via its official website encounter a page displaying the message: “Sorry, you have been blocked.” They lament that the BitForex team is no longer responsive to queries.
Seeing some suspicious activity with the crypto exchange @bitforexcom.
On Feb 23 their hot wallets saw outflows of ~$56.5M. Shortly after this time withdrawals stopped processing with no official announcements having been made since.
Currently users are asking questions on… pic.twitter.com/gFEcwExHKh
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) February 26, 2024
Questionable $3B Trading Volume on BitForex
Moreover, data from market tracking portals such as CoinGecko confirms that trading activities on BitForex were last available for tracking three days ago.
According to CoinGecko statistics, as of February 22, BitForex’s trading volume was approximately $3 billion. However, since then, all trading activity has flattened out.
Meanwhile, data for normalized exchange trading volume from CoinGecko suggests BitForex may have inflated its trading volumes by up to 85 folds.
The normalized data considers web traffic statistics when evaluating trading volume. This metric reported $34.7 million on February 22, compared to the $3 billion volume the same day.
Per ZachXBT’s disclosure, users had expressed concerns about the suspicious nature of the trading volumes on BitForex. However, BitForex’s Telegram administrators reportedly claimed that it was just maintenance.
Amid users seeking answers to the whereabouts of BitForex, the timing of its CEO’s departure has added to the mistrust. Just four weeks ago, Jason Luo announced his resignation from the CEO position at BitForex.
The sudden change in leadership, coupled with recent events, now raises serious doubts about the firm’s financial stability.
Since February 21, BitForex’s X account has shown no activity. Although Certified’s security rating labeled it as ‘CCC’ and indicated the exchange had an insurance policy.