BitForex collapse — what creditors were owed and recovered (2024)
The 50 percent is the company's own November 2025 statement that more than half of user assets had been withdrawn since it regained system access in July 2024. It is self-reported, has not been independently audited, and no source states whether it is measured by asset count, user count or value. BitForex also announced a 5 percent monthly management fee on balances left after a 25 December 2025 withdrawal deadline, with a minimum US$10 charge.
Case facts
| Customers lost access | |
|---|---|
| Insolvency filed | No formal proceeding was opened |
| Business | Centralised exchange |
| Jurisdiction | Hong Kong |
| Procedure | No formal process |
| Owed to creditors | $56,500,000 |
| Distributed so far | Nothing |
| Recovery | 50%Basis not established — A figure circulates but no source states what it is measured against. |
| Cause | UndisclosedHot wallets emptied; team detained by police in China |
| Case status | Ongoing |
What happened
BitForex was a Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange. On 23 February 2024 its website and application went offline without notice, shortly after on-chain investigator ZachXBT reported outflows of about US$56.5 million from its hot wallets. Withdrawals stopped processing, the team ceased communication, and users could not access accounts or funds. The chief executive, Jason Luo, had departed about a month earlier.
The US$56.5 million figure describes what left the hot wallets, not an audited total of customer balances, which has never been published.
Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission added BitForex to its suspicious virtual asset trading platforms alert list and asked the Hong Kong Police Force to block associated websites and social media pages. The company later said its team had been detained and investigated by police in Jiangsu province in China from 23 February 2024, and that it regained system access on 24 July 2024.
BitForex then reopened withdrawals only, saying it would return assets and cease operations afterwards, with trading, registrations and deposits permanently suspended. In a November 2025 statement it said more than 50 percent of user assets had been withdrawn, required all users to complete identity verification and withdraw by 25 December 2025, and announced a monthly management fee on balances remaining after that date. The cause of the February 2024 outflow has never been publicly explained.
Sources
- CoinDeskSecondary · retrieved 2026-08-21
- DL NewsSecondary · retrieved 2026-08-21
- Bitcoin.com NewsSecondary · retrieved 2026-08-21
- Finance MagnatesSecondary · retrieved 2026-08-21
- BitForex (GlobeNewswire)Primary · retrieved 2026-08-21
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