BitMart will wind down its cryptocurrency exchange, ending all trading services on Aug. 26 and ceasing operations entirely on Jan. 31, 2027.

“After a careful evaluation of the Company’s operating conditions, market environment, and future strategic direction, BitMart has made the difficult decision to commence an orderly wind-down of its trading platform operations,” the company said in a Sunday notice.

Under the shutdown plan, BitMart has stopped accepting new user registrations and deposits. Futures trading has moved into reduce-only mode, while spot markets are no longer accepting new orders. Reduce-only mode generally allows users to close or decrease existing futures positions but not open new positions or increase exposure.

The decision places BitMart among several cryptocurrency trading platforms that have announced plans in recent months to close their trading venues. BitMEX and Dango both said this week that they would shut down their respective trading platforms.

BMX falls as users report withdrawal delays

BitMart’s native token, BMX, lost nearly 70% of its value as users reported delayed withdrawals from the exchange.

BMX traded at about $0.09464 at the time of writing, down nearly 70% from about $0.31 late Friday, according to CoinGecko. The token fell as low as $0.1058 early Saturday before extending its losses, resuming its decline after a brief Saturday recovery and dropping below $0.10.

Several users on X said withdrawals were taking longer than usual, with some claiming that Tether USDt (USDT) withdrawal requests had remained pending for hours. During an exchange wind-down, withdrawal access and processing timelines are typically the main operational focus for users, especially after deposits and new trading activity have been halted.

Arkham data showed wallets attributed to BitMart held about $71 million in crypto assets on Sunday, down from roughly $102 million on July 6. About $41.5 million was held in WFI tokens from stablecoin banking platform WeFi, while the tracked wallets held about $91,000 in USDT.

In its wind-down announcement, BitMart said some withdrawal requests could be subject to additional compliance and security reviews, which could extend processing times.

Former CEO Nenter Chow said in a Sunday X post that he was informed Friday that his employment was being terminated and that he was no longer involved in BitMart’s management or decision-making. Chow said he was not consulted about the shutdown decision and learned of it only after the company published the announcement.

BitMart did not respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment before publication.

Some users confuse BMX with BitMEX

Some users on X also appeared to confuse BitMart and its BMX token with BitMEX.

On Saturday, an X user in the Mandarin-speaking crypto community who goes by “Brother Lu” drew attention to BMX’s price drop while speculating about its cause.

“The whole internet was posting yesterday that it was shutting down on Sept. 30. Did you just wake up?” another X user replied, according to a machine translation.

The reference to Sept. 30 did not match BitMEX’s Sept. 23 shutdown date, which was announced Thursday. BitMEX’s own token, BMEX, fell 90% shortly after that notice.

Several other users in the Mandarin-speaking community also mixed up BMX with BitMEX. It was not immediately clear whether the confusion had any impact on BMX trading.