London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Jul 15, 2025

Hong Kong crypto exchange Coinsuper allegedly frozen, users unable to withdraw funds

Hong Kong crypto exchange Coinsuper allegedly frozen, users unable to withdraw funds

Customers of a Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange say they can’t withdraw money or tokens from the bourse, and at least seven have reported the matter to police.
Dozens of clients have been unable to make withdrawals from Coinsuper since late November, based on a review of messages on the firm’s official Telegram chat. Five customers told Bloomberg News that they’d filed police reports after withdrawals were apparently frozen, leaving them unable to retrieve about a combined US$55,000 of tokens and cash.

The uproar around Coinsuper, backed by Pantera Capital, may fuel calls for broader regulatory oversight in Hong Kong. The head of the city’s securities watchdog in November 2020 said it would propose a licensing regime for all crypto-trading platforms, an approach rival financial hub Singapore is also pursuing.

Coinsuper executives didn’t respond to calls and messages seeking comment. In response to a Bloomberg inquiry about the Coinsuper complaints, a Hong Kong police spokesperson said by email that it’s investigating one case where a person who bought cryptocurrency “via an investment company” was unable to withdraw her funds since December.

In Coinsuper’s Telegram chat, the administrator stopped responding to queries about failed withdrawals in late November, then resurfaced in the past week to ask affected users to provide their email addresses. Some clients said in interviews that there was no follow-up after doing so, and the administrator didn’t respond to messages from Bloomberg.

Terry Chan, who works in the city’s financial industry, started using the platform in November 2020 because it was “quite large in Hong Kong” at the time. He tried to withdraw US$4,000 from the exchange in early December after noticing that trading there was becoming less liquid. On Jan. 5, he filed a group complaint to Hong Kong police together with two other affected Coinsuper clients.

Coinsuper’s trading app remains operative, and the exchange handled around US$18.5 million of volume on Friday -- down from a daily peak of US$1.3 billion in late 2019, according to crypto data firm Nomics. Binance, the biggest crypto exchange, handled about US$51 billion of transactions over the same time period, Nomics data show.

Hong Kong uses a so-called “opt-in” regulatory regime for crypto exchanges, meaning they can apply to be regulated. But stringent regulations mean it’s “not very attractive” for platforms to pursue that route, said Joshua Chu, a consultant at ONC Lawyers in Hong Kong.

The city will likely move away from the opt-in model sometime this year, according to Chu. He added that it’s “not uncommon” for crypto exchanges to face problems including long withdrawal times, highlighting that regulation might be needed for issues that are technical in nature.

According to Chinese media reports, Coinsuper was founded in 2017 by Chinese tycoon Zhang Zhenxin, who died in 2019. Karen Chen, who joined Coinsuper as CEO in early 2018 after working as a senior executive at UBS Group AG, said in an interview that she left the company in July 2019 for personal reasons.

Chen said she remains a minority investor in the company but has no involvement in its operations. A filing with the companies registry shows she stopped being a director at Coinsuper in March 2020. Chen was listed as Coinsuper’s biggest individual shareholder in the latest annual report filed with the companies registry in October. She last posted about Coinsuper on Twitter in November 2019.

The company completed its latest funding round in early 2019, according to a press release that didn’t disclose the amount raised.

A partner at one of Coinsuper’s venture capital backers, who asked that he and his firm not be identified, said it has written off its entire roughly US$1 million investment. Around six to eight months ago, the firm lost contact with Coinsuper’s management and Chen stopped responding on WeChat, the person said. Several employees left the company between July and December, according to data from Hong Kong’s Companies Registry.

Pantera Capital, run by veteran Bitcoin investor Dan Morehead, didn’t return emails seeking comment. The firm invested in Coinsuper in its June 2018 Series A funding round. Pantera’s website still lists the crypto exchange among its investments.

In September last year, Coinsuper made its last major announcement, saying on Twitter that it was adding the Solana token and the Tether stablecoin on the exchange. Its social media accounts haven’t been active since Dec. 1.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Defends Attorney General Pam Bondi Amid Epstein Memo Backlash
Renault Shares Drop as CEO Luca de Meo Announces Departure Amid Reports of Move to Kering
Senior Aides for King Charles and Prince Harry Hold Secret Peace Summit
Anti‑Semitism ‘Normalised’ in Middle‑Class Britain, Says Commission Co‑Chair
King Charles Meets David Beckham at Chelsea Flower Show
If the Department is Really About Justice: Ghislaine Maxwell Should Be Freed Now
NYC Candidate Zohran Mamdani’s ‘Antifada’ Remarks Spark National Debate on Political Language and Economic Policy
President Trump Visits Flood-Ravaged Texas, Praises Community Strength and First Responders
From Mystery to Meltdown, Crisis Within the Trump Administration: Epstein Files Ignite A Deepening Rift at the Highest Levels of Government Reveals Chaos, Leaks, and Growing MAGA Backlash
Trump Slams Putin Over War Death Toll, Teases Major Russia Announcement
Reparations argument crushed
Rainmaker CEO Says Cloud Seeding Paused Before Deadly Texas Floods
A 92-year-old woman, who felt she doesn't belong in a nursing home, escaped the death-camp by climbing a gate nearly 8 ft tall
French Journalist Acquitted in Controversial Case Involving Brigitte Macron
Elon Musk’s xAI Targets $200 Billion Valuation in New Fundraising Round
Kraft Heinz Considers Splitting Off Grocery Division Amid Strategic Review
Trump Proposes Supplying Arms to Ukraine Through NATO Allies
EU Proposes New Tax on Large Companies to Boost Budget
Trump Imposes 35% Tariffs on Canadian Imports Amid Trade Tensions
Junior Doctors in the UK Prepare for Five-Day Strike Over Pay Disputes
US Opens First Rare Earth Mine in Over 70 Years in Wyoming
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
Bitcoin Reaches New Milestone of $116,000
Biden’s Doctor Pleads the Fifth to Avoid Self-Incrimination on President’s Medical Fitness
Grok Chatbot Faces International Backlash for Antisemitic Content
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
NVIDIA Achieves Historic Milestone as First Company Valued at $4 Trillion
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Linda Yaccarino Steps Down as CEO of X After Two Years
×