On October 17, according to people familiar with the matter, Xu Mingxing was taken away by the police or had nothing to do with OKEx’s digital asset trading services. Currently, the two executives who were taken away with Xu Mingxing have been released on bail.
The person said that the real reason Xu Mingxing was taken away to assist in the investigation may be related to the backdoor listing of Ouke Group in Hong Kong last year. At that time, a sum of money for buying shells was borrowed from an underground bank in Shanxi, which has been investigated by the police.
At 11:54 on October 16, OKEx, a well-known cryptocurrency exchange, issued a “Announcement on Suspension of Withdrawals”, stating that some of the company’s private key persons are currently cooperating with the investigation by the public security organs, and they are currently in a state of disconnection and cannot complete authorization. Therefore, starting at 11:00 on October 16, 2020 (Hong Kong time), OKEx has decided to suspend user withdrawals. The announcement also stated that “other functions of OKEx are guaranteed to be normal” and “asset security is not affected.” Caixin reported that one of the “persons in charge of some private keys” mentioned in the announcement was Xu Mingxing.
At 12:00 on October 16, the current CEO of OKEx, Jay Hao, posted on Weibo, saying: “Please rest assured that the company, business, and platform operations will not be affected. It is a personal issue of the private key manager. We will temporarily stop withdrawing coins. We will announce to you as soon as possible. Please refer to the announcement information.”
In response to many people comparing the Xu Mingxing incident with the previous RenrenBit founder Zhao Dong being taken away by the police to assist in the investigation, the person said, “The nature is completely different.”
However, OKEx stated that it could not disclose the nature of the investigation by the Chinese police, and that the investigation is not related to money laundering or the exchange itself, and it will resume all services as soon as possible.
