Exit scam? Aussie exchange freezes ‘$1m+’ of user funds in mystery audit

[Yaunfitda]

Australian crypto exhange ACX https://acx.io/ was reported to be suspending withdrawals after a so called mystery audit.

Users of an Australian Bitcoin exchange are worried they’ll lose their funds after withdrawals were suspended due to a mysterious ‘audit’.

The Melbourne based ACX has stopped processing withdrawals and deposits, blaming an ‘audit process.

Users say they’ve been unable to access their funds – or even contact ACX – for weeks now. There are also reports the Melbourne office has been closed.

https://micky.com.au/aussie-exchange-freezes-1m-of-user-funds-in-mystery-audit/

I check out their official twitter account here: https://twitter.com/ACXTWEET and it looks like the last post was around November 2019.

I do hope that this is not true though but based on the news, ACX might be pulling an exit scam here.

What are your thoughts?

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[JeromeTash]

Looks like an organized exit scam. They haven't even bother responding to customer tickets. Looking at the Facebook and twitter comments. It looks like problems started last month. Which type of "audit" takes more than 2 months without considering customers  

       

[Kemarit]

Is this the first Aussie exchange exit scam? I can't recall any (I could be mistaken), but if this is then it could be big blow to Australia crypto enthusiast as we all know that they country is big as far as crypto is concern. They are the second country after Japan that readily accept bitcoin, so this could dampen, and the government might implement a tougher and stricter penalties for local exchanges.

Months after the supposedly audit, they became so quiet and that's scary. As @JeromeTash put it, not responding to a customer is a no-no in this business unless you're really pulling a exit scam.

[joniboini]

They are the second country after Japan that readily accept bitcoin, so this could dampen, and the government might implement a tougher and stricter penalties for local exchanges.

Isn't that good? I expect a strict KYC and this might be a problem for some but at least shady shit won't happen here and there.

Centralized exchanges will do that sooner or later. It's inevitable. As long as there is an option to go without shady KYC then it's still okay for me.

[Darker45]

And now that things are getting shady, ACX's alleged parent company, Bitcoin Global Limited, is now trying to distance itself from it. It seems to be washing its hands already from this issue. From being a parent company, as stated in the terms and conditions of the website of ACX, it has now claimed to be just a mere shareholder. This looks to me as an attempt to get away from possible responsibilities.

[1Referee]

Is this the first Aussie exchange exit scam? I can't recall any (I could be mistaken), but if this is then it could be big blow to Australia crypto enthusiast as we all know that they country is big as far as crypto is concern.

I know of Australian exchanges that have been shut down by the authorities, but not of any that performed an exit scam. I think this might be due to the fact that a lot of services in Australia are very small services where you can buy and sell coins from and to the service, and not like an exchange sell into an orderbook.

If a small service performs an exit scam, it's less likely to be covered by news outlets unless some crappy news outlet bot auto copy and release the news it found somewhere on a site.

In the end, scams and hacks haven't ever really caused a problem to any crypto ecosystem. Where one exchange goes down, multiple pop up trying to take over that market share.

[Kemarit]

They are the second country after Japan that readily accept bitcoin, so this could dampen, and the government might implement a tougher and stricter penalties for local exchanges.

Isn't that good? I expect a strict KYC and this might be a problem for some but at least shady shit won't happen here and there.

Centralized exchanges will do that sooner or later. It's inevitable. As long as there is an option to go without shady KYC then it's still okay for me.

Yeah, I think in the end it might be good for us and the whole crypto sphere. Tougher laws, regulations, survival of the fittest. If you are one exchanges who is very shady in the beginning, then you can't go and survived without you following what the government wanted.

@1Referee - just the nature of business, when someone exited, another door open and another opportunity. But we all do hope that the next one popping up, will not exit scam as well.

[hello_good_sir]

This is honestly quite ridiculous.

Major exchanges like Binance and Coinbase probably audit themselves on the regular without any disruptions to their provision of services, so it's absolutely ridiculous to suggest that it takes een a few weeks let alone months for this audit to be completed.

Unfortunately for those who are involved, it's most likely a case of a gang of fraudsters pulling a classic exit scam.

And this is the ultimate risk of using these small scale exchanges. There is always the presence of the risk that they will simply go rogue. Even if they are regulated, rules are blurred and enforcement is spotty.