BitMart faces insolvency claim over frozen withdrawals

BitMart is facing a new insolvency allegation after an OpenGradient co-founder said his market-making team could no longer withdraw funds locked on the exchange. Summary An OpenGradient co-founder said his market maker’s BitMart withdrawals remain frozen. He alleged BitMart encouraged token holders to lock assets shortly before restricting services. BitMart is winding down operations but maintains that withdrawals remain available. Founder Sheldon Xia denied misusing funds, but BitMart has not published a full proof-of-reserves report. Market maker questions BitMart’s solvency Matthew, a co-founder of decentralized AI network OpenGradient, said his market-making team has funds trapped on BitMart and questioned whether the exchange remains solvent. According to Matthew, the team cannot withdraw its assets from the centralized trading platform. He also alleged that BitMart continued encouraging token holders to lock funds on the exchange about one week before halting the related services. our MM has our balances stuck on @BitMartExchange that we can't get out cuz theyre insolvent. also insane that they were asking token holders to lock tokens on their exchange literally 1 week before they shut down. it was always just a play for liquidity. https://t.co/NzHd1PM0M1pic.twitter.com/HtRm3VpFFq — Matthew (∇, ∇) (@0xDeltaHedged) August 10, 2026 Matthew described the timing as “shocking” and claimed the lockup campaign may have been intended to bring additional liquidity onto the platform. BitMart had not issued a direct response to his allegations at the time of writing. The claims have not been independently verified, and Matthew did not disclose the value or type of assets held by the market maker. There is currently no confirmed evidence establishing that BitMart is insolvent. However, the complaint adds to mounting questions about the exchange’s ability to process withdrawals during its wind-down. You might also like: BitMart tops BTC–ETH perp liquidity across leading centralized exchanges Withdrawal complaints follow BitMart shutdown BitMart began a phased shutdown of its global exchange on July 26. It stopped accepting new registrations, crypto and fiat deposits, and new spot orders, while futures accounts entered reduce-only mode. All spot, futures and other trading services are scheduled to end at 01:00 UTC on Aug. 26. BitMart plans to terminate its trading-platform operations on Jan. 31, 2027. The exchange says withdrawals remain available. However, requests may undergo identity checks, source-of-funds reviews, wallet-ownership verification, sanctions screening and other security procedures. BitMart recommended that customers submit withdrawal requests before 05:00 UTC on Aug. 26. Requests submitted later will move into a separate process that the company has yet to detail fully. Scandic Coin has also reported delayed withdrawals. The project said requests involving approximately 21,898 USDT, 926,635 SNC and another 256 USDT remained unprocessed after being submitted on July 26.