Cryptocurrency exchange OKEx has resumed the withdrawal of cryptocurrencies. Many Chinese users are ready to leave OKEx or reduce their trading volumes on this site.
According to the OKEx notification, the exchange opened the withdrawal of digital assets on November 26 at 11:00 Moscow time. A few days ago, OKEx launched a user compensation program that includes discounts on commissions. The reward depends on the trading volume during the period when the withdrawal of cryptocurrencies was suspended. Despite the loyalty program, many Chinese users of the site plan to reduce the volume of deposits on this platform after the withdrawal is resumed.
Alex Zuo, vice president of Chinese cryptocurrency wallet Cobo, said the firm will continue to trade on OKEx, but will transfer one-third of the money to other exchanges to diversify its investments. Zuo said he still believes OKEx to be a reliable exchange, but there may be many uncertainties in the future. Zuo is confident that after the situation with OKEx, trading volumes on this exchange will decrease. Therefore, Cobo management began to consider opening accounts on other cryptocurrency exchanges, including FTX, Coinbase, and Bitstamp.
Daniel Wang, founder and CEO of Loopring decentralized protocol, believes that if OKEx did have enough assets to mass withdraw funds, the exchange would have allowed them to be withdrawn immediately. Wang added that the bounty program launched by OKEx is not impressive as a marketing strategy to retain dissatisfied users. However, according to Skew, open interest in bitcoin futures and options trading remains high. OKEx still maintains a leading position among cryptocurrency derivatives trading exchanges.
CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju suggested that large clients of the exchange would be able to manipulate the market before and after the opening of the cryptocurrency withdrawal. However, there is another scenario: if the “whales” want to leave OKEx, they can convert their bitcoins into other cryptocurrencies for fast transactions.
Additionally, some hedge funds may send BTC or USDT to OKEx for arbitrage. Ju said that if a large number of bitcoins are transferred to individual wallets, this will reduce the supply on exchanges and will have a good impact on the bitcoin price. But it seems that events took a different course. Today the bitcoin rate fell from $ 18,900 to $ 16,300, later recovering to $ 17,200.
Flex Yang, founder and CEO of Hong Kong-based Babel Finance, said OKEx offers a variety of derivative products that can keep seasoned traders out. According to Yan, even if OKEx customers decide to leave the site, after a while they will still return to it.
Recall that on October 16, OKEx suspended the withdrawal of cryptoassets due to the fact that one of the private key holders was unavailable, “taking part in the investigation.” Later, the management of the exchange announced the involvement of lawyers to solve this problem.
