The stopping stop of the AAX crypto exchange triggers a desperate search for money

cryptocurrency investors in AAX are looking for managers of the Stock Exchange after the decision last month, stopping withdrawals, had triggered a counter -reaction from the users.

The crypto exchange with its headquarters in Hong Kong, which once had 2 million users, announced in 2019 with a large fanfare that it was the first digital asset exchange that uses the trading technology of London Stock Exchange.

But AAX, which stands for Atom Asset Exchange, stopped with the withdrawal of customers due to a so -called temporary "planned maintenance" to "remedy serious weaknesses". Storse employees claimed that the failure was due to liquidity problems.

The search carried out by thousands of users through several Telegram messaging groups underlines the increasing despair of investors in the non-regulated industry. According to AAX users, the stock exchange has no longer processed customer withdrawals, and employees informed the Financial Times that they had been separated from the company's email systems.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the city's financial supervisory authority, said that the stock exchange did not fall within its area of ​​responsibility, while the Securities and Futures commission said that it did not comment on individual cases. AAX is not one of the few licensed trading platforms for virtual assets from SFC.

Hong Kong is a crypto hub in which the offices of several groups are housed, including Sam Bankman-Frieds FTX exchange and his crypto trading company Alameda. Shortly before FTX's collapse, Hong Kong announced plans to legalize retail trade with crypto assets.

AAX Vice President Ben Caselin said on Twitter that he had resigned on November 28 because he lost confidence in management. Caselin, one of the AAX executives that users are looking for to get their funds back, said the FT that he could not help.

he characterized his former role as a "speaker", which was not involved in the company's finances. Caselin added that he felt "very insecure" in Hong Kong, but refused to confirm his location.

After the withdrawals have been suspended, AAX users founded Telegram groups to exchange information and published leaked images of the personal ID documents from managers to try to determine their location.

"I noticed that there is something suspicious, so I did my own research," said Mike Ong, a Singaporian financial manager who is part of the group. "In the time they said that they were doing maintenance work, many core managers began to delete their online presence."

In November, AAX users visited the offices in Hong Kong, just to leave them. Ong visited the Coworking Space of the Stock Exchange in Singapore, but no employees worked there. The Telegram groups now have thousands of members, including former employees who still have money on the stock exchange

Some employees were later informed of the management that several large owners of cryptocurrencies in the course of the FTX crisis would have deducted their money from the stock exchange. Your access to the company's email and slack channels has been separated since then.

aax did not answer a request for comment.

The users in particular try to contact Victor SU, one of the main investors of the stock exchange, which is considered the senior employee and was previously based in Hong Kong.

SU refused to reveal the FT to his whereabouts and threatened legal steps due to "unrealistic reports" that had been published against him.

"I don't have and I don't become [Abscond] either, I think the law will give the best answer," Su wrote in an SMS on Wednesday. "I am also an investor and have lost a lot." He did not explain more details.

"We will continue to put the managers under pressure [Telegram] groups," said an organizer of the user examination. The groups also tried to report concerns to the police in Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong, but Caselin said that such efforts were in vain.

"Some people asked me why I did not file a complaint with the Hong Kong police," he wrote on Twitter. "First of all, despite the roots of AAX in Hong Kong, AAX is a stock exchange based on the Seychelles, so it is useless."