BitMart processed just 63 withdrawals after closure announcement

Crypto researchers claim crypto exchange BitMart is processing withdrawals at a dramatically slow rate after it announced plans to shut down its operations next year.

BitMart claimed that after assessing its “operating conditions, market environment, and future strategic direction,” its operations would cease to exist on January 31, 2027 — a decision at odds with its seemingly bullish outlook.

Deposits, new account registrations, and new trades have already been disabled, and by August 21, all services will cease except for withdrawals.

It “strongly” recommends that users submit withdrawal requests before August 26. 

Additionally, the exchange warned that because it “generally” processes withdrawals based on the order of submission, “processing times may be extended due to a high volume of withdrawal requests.”

Crypto researcher Quang noted that in the 24 hours after BitMart’s announcement, the exchange only processed 63 withdrawal requests, together worth around $800,000.

They assessed that users with large balances will likely be waiting a long time, and that if you have anything less than $10, “you might as well say goodbye to it.”

Read more: European Union sanctions Justin Sun’s HTX

Crypto analyst Lookonchain also noted that by 7:40 pm EST, the exchange had stopped processing withdrawals for the past eight hours. 

The exchange’s API appears to paint a slightly different picture, however. Despite shutting down, it still appeared to have processed $1.8 billion in 24-hour volume.

At time of writing, BitMart is ranked third on CoinGecko for 24-hour volume, behind Binance with $6 billion and Poloniex with over $2 billion. 

BitMart was supposed to last another eight years

BitMart had presented a bullish outlook for its operations in this year’s H1 report published earlier this month.  

A license to operate in Australia was secured, and the company was expanding in Europe via a partnership with Zero Hash. 

Transaction volume was up 300%, BitMart’s assets under management grew roughly “256% period-over-period,” and it had just launched its own prediction market.

BitMart CEO Nathan Chow also said that, “BitMart is eight years old this year. We intend to be here for the next eight, and we are building accordingly.” 

He said, “H1 2026 was a market that punished platforms optimizing for the last cycle and rewarded platforms building for the next one. Our numbers reflect that choice.”

Nobody told Chow BitMart was closing 

Despite Chow’s statements, he appears not to have gotten the memo about BitMart’s closure. 

After its announcement, Chow posted on X claiming “I was not involved in the decision announced today, not consulted on it, and not informed of it. I learned of it when it became public.”

Read more: BitMEX to close, but what about its $270M insurance fund?

He says BitMart told him on July 24 that his role was being terminated and would start winding down immediately. For the next two days, he had no involvement with the company. 

Chow thanked his colleagues whom he worked with, and said that he is concerned for BitMart’s users and its employees.

Month of failing crypto firms

Several crypto firms have made major negative announcements this month.

Today, the crypto-based data storage firm Storj announced that it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Crypto firm Movement Labs also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, crypto exchange BitMex announced it was shutting down, and Justin Sun’s HTX was sanctioned by the EU.

In Storj’s case, the firm would continue to operate after the restructuring and give token holders a stake in the newly restructured firm.

Protos has reached out to BitMart for comment and will update this piece should we hear anything back.

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