On September 15, 2026, CoinEx announced it was winding down after nine years. Spot trading stopped on September 29. Withdrawals stay open until 02:00 UTC on December 22, 2026, and after that the platform shuts down for good.
If you still have a balance there, two things have probably already happened to it: your coins were sold and turned into USDT, and the clock on getting that USDT out is running. This guide covers what the wind-down did to your account, how to withdraw without losing funds to a network mistake, and how to swap the USDT back into Bitcoin, Monero or whatever you were holding, without opening another exchange account.
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| September 15, 2026 | Shutdown announced. New registrations and referral rewards stopped; futures moved to reduce-only. |
| September 22, 2026 | All non-spot services ended. On-chain deposits stopped, except CET. |
| September 29, 2026 | Spot trading stopped. Non-USDT assets could be withdrawn in their original form until 02:00 UTC; after that, coins with an outside market were sold and credited to spot accounts as USDT. CET was repurchased at $0.005. |
| December 22, 2026, 02:00 UTC | Withdrawals close and the platform ceases operations. |
| Until August 22, 2028 | Email claims for balances moved into custody (see below). |
If you didn't withdraw before September 29, CoinEx says it sold the coins that trade on outside markets and credited the proceeds to your spot account as USDT. Two consequences follow:
CoinEx says it holds reserves above 100% and that every user balance is fully backed and available to withdraw. It blamed a long market downturn, falling volume and liquidity, and compliance costs for the closure. Whatever the reason, the task is the same: get the balance out while withdrawals still work.
This is the part most coverage skips. Under CoinEx's wind-down terms, any USDT left in an account after the deadline moves into independent custody, and a monthly custody fee of 5% of the original balance applies. Claims can be made by email until August 22, 2028.
Do the maths: 5% of the original balance every month uses up the whole amount in 20 months, which lands right around that 2028 claims cut-off. Leaving money there to deal with later means paying to lose it. Treat December 22 as the real deadline and aim to finish well before it; if a lot of users leave it to the final week, withdrawals can slow down.
Once the USDT is in your own wallet, converting it back is a single swap. There's no account to open and no ID to upload, and the coins go straight to a wallet you choose:
Pick USDT on the network you hold as the coin you send, choose what you want to receive, paste your receiving address for that coin, and send the exact amount to the deposit address shown. The rate is locked when you create the order, and swaps usually complete in 5 to 30 minutes.
If you'd rather keep part of it in dollars, there's no need to swap at all: a self-custody wallet holds USDT fine. Just know that Tether can freeze USDT at the address level. Our guide to checking whether a USDT address is frozen shows how to check any address in a minute.
CoinEx is the latest in a run of exchange exits, and the lesson is the same each time: a balance on an exchange is a claim on the exchange, and it lasts only as long as the exchange does. If you used CoinEx because it asked for little or no verification, the closest replacement isn't another custodial exchange that might change its rules. It's a non-custodial swap, which never holds a balance for you at all.
Our no-KYC exchange guide compares the options that still work, and the ChangeNOW alternatives comparison puts seven instant-swap services side by side.
Withdrawals close at 02:00 UTC on December 22, 2026, and the platform stops operating. USDT left after that moves into independent custody with a monthly fee of 5% of the original balance, and claims can be made by email until August 22, 2028.
Spot trading stopped on September 29. Coins that trade on outside markets were sold and credited to spot accounts as USDT. Assets with no external liquidity may have been delisted, and CoinEx said it no longer takes custody or redemption responsibility for those.
No. Futures went reduce-only on September 15, all non-spot services ended on September 22, and spot trading stopped on September 29. The only thing left is withdrawals, until December 22.
The one your destination wallet supports. CoinEx charges a different fee on each network, so compare them on the withdrawal screen. The receiving address must be on the same network you pick, and a small test withdrawal first is worth the extra fee.
Withdraw the USDT to a wallet you control, then use a non-custodial instant swap: choose USDT on your network as the coin you send, BTC or XMR as the coin you receive, and paste your own receiving address. There is no account to open, and the rate is locked when you create the order.
CoinEx says it holds reserves above 100% and that all user assets are fully backed and available to withdraw. It cited a long market downturn, shrinking volume and liquidity, and rising compliance costs as the reasons for closing. The safe course is to withdraw early rather than test that claim at the deadline.
Your remaining USDT goes into independent custody and is charged 5% of the original balance every month, so the balance is used up in about 20 months. Claims are handled by email until August 22, 2028.
USDT (TRC-20 or ERC-20) → BTC, XMR, ETH · Locked rate · No account · 5–30 min
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