BitMart Sets Aug. 19 Deadline for Founder to Disclose Wallets, Xia Calls It Fake

BitMart’s own official Chinese-language X account has given founder Sheldon Xia until Wednesday, August 19, 2026, to publicly disclose the exchange’s wallet addresses, total liabilities, available reserves and a concrete repayment plan for locked user funds. The account, whose control was unclear, warned that failure to comply would trigger a coordinated push to regulators, law enforcement, lawyers and media worldwide. Xia responded the same day, calling the post’s claims “fabricated rumors.”

A 3-day ultimatum from inside the exchange

The Monday post said some BitMart users still cannot withdraw funds and that some employees have not received their final salary or compensation. It demanded that Xia produce a verifiable disclosure of BitMart’s wallets, assets and reserves alongside a repayment timeline before the August 19 cutoff, according to a machine translation of the post cited by Cointelegraph.

CoinGape reported the account was seized by BitMart employees to confront Xia directly, framing the move as an internal escalation rather than an official corporate statement. It remains unclear whether the account is still under company control, and BitMart did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Cointelegraph.

Xia disputes the account, promises a police report

Xia pushed back in his own X post the same day, saying he had preserved evidence and would take legal action. “We have collected full evidence of the content on X, all of which is fabricated rumors. During daytime US time, we will file a police report and send a lawyer’s letter to X, demanding technical and data forensics,” Xia said, according to a machine translation.

The dueling statements leave BitMart users and staff with no confirmed figures on how much is owed, how many wallets remain frozen, or when — if at all — a repayment plan will materialize.

The wind-down timeline: July 26 to January 31

The dispute follows BitMart’s July 26 announcement that it would wind down the exchange after its native BMX token plunged and users began reporting withdrawal delays. Under that plan, trading on the platform is set to stop on August 26, with all operations ceasing by January 31.

BitMart has already halted new deposits and new user registrations as part of the shutdown. The exchange has also warned that some withdrawals could be subject to additional compliance and security reviews, a caveat that has fueled user frustration over delayed access to funds in the weeks since the announcement.

Why it matters for holders

For BitMart users and BMX holders, the next three days are the clearest test yet of whether the exchange can back up its wind-down promises with hard numbers on reserves and liabilities. Centralized exchange failures have repeatedly shown that public disclosure timelines — not announcements alone — are what determine whether depositors get funds back before an entity shuts down entirely.

Until Xia or BitMart publishes verifiable wallet and reserve data, traders holding balances on the platform have no independent way to confirm solvency, leaving the August 19 deadline as the key date to watch.

Sources

• coingape.com
• cointelegraph.com