Crypto
Crypto Exchange CoinEx Shuts Down, CET Crashes 62%
CoinEx is shutting down after nine years, while CET’s 62% crash highlights the growing pressure facing crypto platforms during the downturn worldwide.
3h ago 4,280
BLOCKINSIDERLoadingCoinEx is shutting down after nine years, while CET’s 62% crash highlights the growing pressure facing crypto platforms during the downturn worldwide.
CoinEx, a 9-year-old crypto exchange, just announced its end on September 15, 2026, two weeks after its native token slid into a sharp tailspin. Founder Haipo Yang confirmed the shutdown himself, framing it as a controlled wind-down.
What follows is a staged closure, not a sudden collapse. Yet the shock has already rattled crypto markets far beyond CoinEx's own user base.
The exchange blamed the prolonged downturn in the cryptocurrency market as the core reason behind the decision. CoinEx said trading volumes had shrunk steadily, while compliance costs kept climbing across major jurisdictions worldwide.
Market expectations had leaned toward Bitcoin breaking past $83,000 in the coming weeks. That outlook has now shifted noticeably following the closure news. A slide toward $72,000 looks more likely, given the fresh wave of negative sentiment and rising volatility.
CoinEx's exit adds to a growing list of exchange shutdowns weighing on confidence.
CEO Yang Haipo addressed users directly, stressing that CoinEx's reserve ratio still exceeds 100%. He said every user asset remains fully backed despite the wind-down. Withdrawals will stay open until December 22, when the exchange finally, formally shuts down for good. Yang framed this as an orderly exit, not a panic-driven scramble.
CET, the exchange's native token, has struggled for months already. But the real damage arrived in just the last two weeks. The token crashed 62% during that short window alone. It now trades near its fixed buyback price of 0.005 USDT, wiping out most remaining value.
Yang admitted CET never delivered the long-term value once promised. He called the buyback the least the company could offer holders now.
CoinEx is far from alone this cycle. Major names like BitMEX, BitMart, AscendEX, Bit.com, and Movement Labs have all shut down recently. Over 60 crypto exchanges, blockchains, wallets, and DeFi projects folded between January and July 2026 alone. The pace only accelerated as the year progressed further.
By late July, research firm RootData had counted 99 crypto projects that officially closed. The final weeks of that month saw the sharpest spike in shutdowns recorded.
This bear market looks different from previous ones, though, in both shape and severity. The 2022 cycle was defined by a handful of massive, interconnected blowups.
Three Arrows Capital, FTX, Celsius, Voyager, BlockFi, and Genesis collectively wiped out $46.5 billion. Those failures were sudden, dramatic, and deeply intertwined with one another's balance sheets.
The 2026 downturn has actually been comparatively milder in overall scale. Prices fell around 52%, less severe than the 78% to 85% drawdowns seen in 2018 and 2022. Instead of explosive collapses, this cycle resembles more of a slow, steady bleed. Exchanges and platforms increasingly cite shrinking volumes and rising compliance costs as reasons.
Unsustainable business models built during the 2024-2025 bull run have been a major contributing factor to this collapse. Those models simply couldn't survive prolonged weakness paired with tighter regulatory scrutiny worldwide.
CoinEx's exit fits neatly into that broader pattern of quiet, steady attrition. Whether more exchanges follow remains an open question for the wider industry.
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