AscendEX Halts Operations, Freezes Automated Withdrawals

The halt at AscendEX underscores the growing regulatory challenges for crypto exchanges, potentially impacting market confidence and asset stability. The post AscendEX halts operations, freezes withdrawals amid EU MiCA regulation appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

The post AscendEX Halts Operations, Freezes Automated Withdrawals appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Crypto exchange AscendEX ceased operations effective July 1, 2026, and moved all withdrawal requests to manual review starting July 6, according to a notice posted on its website addressed to retail account holders. Crypto exchange AscendEX ceased operations effective July 1, 2026, and moved all withdrawal requests to manual review starting July 6, according to a notice posted on its website addressed to retail account holders. The exchange cited the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), which took full effect July 1 and under which AscendEX holds no authorization, alongside broader “regulatory, financial and operational considerations,” the notice said. Customers can no longer open accounts, deposit, trade, swap, stake or lend on the platform; access is now limited to offboarding tasks such as withdrawal requests, KYC updates and transaction-history exports. Wi

The post AscenDex shutdown: Uncertainty over withdrawals as hot wallets lack funds appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Crypto exchange AscendEx has announced the cessation of its operations “with effect from 1 July 2026.” In a letter dated July 6, it cited a lack of an EU Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) licence, “as well as broader regulatory, financial and operational considerations affecting the platform.” However, towards the end of the letter, AscendEx reveals that it “relied on an agreed strategic transaction… and the counterparty did not perform.” The news comes almost two weeks after pseudonymous blockchain investigator ZachXBT voiced concerns over disruption to user withdrawals. In a June 26 message to his Telegram channel, he noted that the exchange’s “reserves appear to lack large cap tokens such as ETH, USDT, USDT, SOL, etc indicating they likely are facing liquidity issues.” Read more: SecondFi is shutting down after Cardano wallet exploit AscendEx-labelled addr

The post AscendEX Exchange Collapse Hands Europe Its First MiCA Test  appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) launched its first supervisory sweep of licensed crypto firms on July 8, putting custody resilience under EU-wide review. It comes days after MiCA took full effect and popular crypto exchange AscendEX (formerly BitMax) collapsed. ESMA has not connected the two events. However, the timing hands regulators a live example of what failed crypto custody costs users. ESMA Custody Review Targets Crypto’s Weakest Point In its July 8 release, ESMA said the Common Supervisory Action (CSA) will assess how crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) manage custody risks. National regulators will examine a risk-based sample of authorized firms from late 2026 into early 2027. The exercise targets risks specific to distributed ledger technology (DLT). Reviewers will test governance, key and storage management, transaction controls, incident detecti

The post Crypto Exchange Kraken Is Going After a Full Banking License in Europe appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Key highlights: Kraken wants to have a bank in Europe This would make it the only crypto exchange with a license in the EU The update comes as MiCA rules become fully enforced The European crypto market is developing fast, and a major exchange has decided to take it up a notch. The Kraken crypto exchange is now pursuing a full banking license in Europe, and Lithuania has been named as the preferred country for securing this approval.  The development comes as the European Union is introducing stricter regulations for crypto companies under its Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). Many firms failed to secure this license. For example, Binance, which has started to shut down operations in the region. Meanwhile, some are looking for ways to strengthen their position in the region. Kraken pushes for a banking license Kraken is now actively pushing to conduct banking o

AscendEX's closure highlights the critical need for regulatory compliance and transparency to protect investors in the volatile crypto market. The post AscendEX ceases operations after ZachXBT warning on withdrawals appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

The post AscendEX Withdrawal Crisis Deepens: ZachXBT Sets Minimum Threshold for Crypto Theft Cases appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. The AscendEX situation is getting worse, and ZachXBT is making sure the public knows exactly how bad it is. The on-chain investigator has now confirmed that the exchange’s hot wallet is effectively empty, ETH, USDT, and SOL nearly completely depleted, while deposits continue to flow in and the official team has gone more than nine days without making a single public statement. Internal leaks have added an uglier layer to the story: four months of unpaid employee salaries, a co-founder allegedly running a “family business” dynamic to keep staff compliant, and fabricated relationships used to maintain control as the whole operation appears to have unraveled from the inside. ZachXBT has also gone a step further, publicly revealing co-founder George (Jing) Cao’s Venmo account and telling affected users to chase their funds themselves, a move that reflects

The post Swyftx Eyes Crypto Payments After Securing License appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Australian crypto exchange Swyftx says it will be seeking opportunities in the crypto payments space after securing a license from Australia’s market regulator.  Swyftx said on Wednesday that it received its Australian Financial Services License (AFSL), joining the likes of Coinbase, BTC Markets and Crypto.com. The license allows it to offer derivative products, such as crypto options or futures, to retail customers, as well as non-cash payment facility authorization, setting up the fintech to offer payment services to business and retail clients. It does not hold an AFSL to offer spot crypto.  “Swyftx won’t be a pure crypto spot exchange in future,” Swyftx interim co-CEO Andrea Yuen told Cointelegraph. “In particular, we see a lot of opportunity in the payments space following local changes to credit card surcharging.” From Oct. 1, Australian businesses will be banned from adding surcharge