BitMart

Sheldon Xia founded BitMart in 2017. Trading launched on March 15, 2018, the date subsequently used for its anniversary.⁠[1][2]

Early operations centered on cryptocurrency trading and token listings. BMX supported fee discounts, voting and selected platform events.⁠[2]

Mission X let users back projects with BMX. Successful projects obtained BMX trading pairs; projects failing to reach one million BMX within 90 days returned contributions. The mechanism connected project selection, listings and fee distribution.⁠[3]

BitMart announced strategic investment from Fenbushi Capital, with follow-on participation by Bitrise Capital. The announcement described the investment as “millions” without an exact amount, and named Bo Shen and Canaan’s Kevin Shao to its Global Strategic Advisory Committee.⁠[4]

Its 2020 retrospective listed a futures market, Cobo Custody and security work with SlowMist and Hacken, marking expansion beyond spot trading.⁠[2]

A July 2021 attack involving a Bitcoin SV chain reorganization cost BitMart more than $6 million. Parent GBM Global Holding Company Limited obtained an arbitration award in 2022 and sought court confirmation, with proposed damages of about $5.23 million. An award does not itself establish collection.⁠[5]

In his 2023 anniversary address, Xia described Cipholio as a crypto investment fund established in July 2021 and a rebranding of BitMart Labs. Its activities included early-stage investing, incubation and blockchain education.⁠[6]

The company’s 2021 review recorded a November 28 Series B announcement led by Alexander Capital Ventures, with Alpha Square Group and Chaos Ventures participating, at a valuation exceeding $300 million. The figure was a valuation, not a disclosed amount raised.⁠[7]

That year BitMart expanded fiat channels through MoonPayMoonPayMoonPay is a financial technology company providing fiat and digital-asset conversion, payments and related infrastructure for individuals and businesses. Its products have expanded from embedded cryptocurrency purchasing into merchant payments, stablecoins and institutional digital-asset services.Open the full entry and Simplex and launched BitMart Earn. It stated year-end totals exceeding nine million registered users and 736 spot pairs; these were company-reported historical figures.⁠[7]

The December 4 hot-wallet attack was separate from the BSV incident. PeckShieldPeckShieldPeckShield is a blockchain security company that provides smart contract audits, exchange and wallet security audits, on-chain fund tracking, and anti-money-laundering data services. In 2018 it disclosed integer overflow vulnerabilities in ERC-20 contracts such as batchOverflow, and it regularly publishes statistics on crypto industry hack losses and security incident monitoring.Open the full entry estimated losses of approximately $196 million across Ethereum and Binance Smart ChainBNB ChainBNB Chain is a multichain blockchain ecosystem with BNB as its native asset. Its core includes the Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible BNB Smart Chain, the opBNB layer-2 network and the decentralized storage network BNB Greenfield; its history traces to Binance Chain, launched in 2019.Open the full entry. Xia attributed the breach to a stolen private key and pledged compensation from company funds.⁠[8]

The FTC investigated operator Spread Technologies over marketing, security, account access and customer service, and rejected its request to quash or limit a civil investigative demand. The order concerned investigative compliance; it was not a final finding of fraud or an award of damages.⁠[9]

BitMart announced plans to join Copper ClearLoop, allowing institutional customers to trade while assets remained with Copper. The announcement made implementation conditional on contracts and technical integration.⁠[10]

Its annual review described a Hong Kong platform, a Cyberport office and cooperation with HKVAC, alongside inscription order-book trading and learning rewards. This market presence should not be equated with a Hong Kong virtual-asset trading platform licence.⁠[11]

BMX 2.0 proposed extending utility beyond exchange benefits into Web3 wallets, DEXs and Layer 2 partnerships. Existing fee deductions and listing votes were distinct from these expansion plans.⁠[12]

Xia moved from CEO to Group President, focusing on long-term strategy, products and security. Nenter Chow, previously an investor at Animoca Ventures, became Global CEO.⁠[13]

The 2025 review listed Futures 2.0, Copy Trading 2.0, BitMart Card and AI tools including X Insight and Beacon Trading Assistant. It claimed more than 13 million registered users at year-end, a figure distinct from active or audited customer counts.⁠[14]

BitMart launched its Web3 Wallet with two announced modes: a Passkey/trusted-execution-environment smart wallet linked to exchange-account authentication, and an EOA wallet with user-managed seed phrases and private keys. Both supported on-chain assets and trading, with different authentication and key-management arrangements.⁠[15]

BitMart asked U.S. users to close positions and withdraw assets by August 8, stating that U.S. registrations had stopped in May 2022. It identified BitMart U.S. as a separate platform requiring new registration and identity checks.⁠[16]

The notice scheduled suspension of registrations, deposits and new orders from July 26, trading cessation on August 26, and formal termination on January 31, 2027. Withdrawals remained subject to review; a request was not confirmation of an on-chain transfer.⁠[17]

Nenter Chow said he received notice of termination on July 24, had not been consulted on the wind-down and learned of it through the public announcement.⁠[18]

BitMart’s Chinese-language X account demanded explanations about user funds and repayment. Xia denied its allegations and denied preferential treatment for employees. Control of the account was unclear, and the accusations were not established findings.⁠[19]

The platform subsequently explored restructuring and a possible restart, engaging White & Case for legal advice and Alvarez & Marsal as financial adviser to review assets, liabilities, liquidity and options.⁠[20]

The initial proposal contemplated dollarized balances and options for upfront pro-rata distributions, a Restitution Token tied to hacked-fund recoveries, and a Continuum Token tied to investment and illiquid-asset realizations. Future profits depended on funding a restart. Consultation and approvals remained outstanding.⁠[21]

Management separately put the hack-related deficit at about $319.5 million, dollarized as of December 4, 2021. This was its 2026 assessment, distinct from estimates published at the time of the attack.⁠[21]

Xia said A&M and White & Case had held a two-hour Monday meeting with the top 50 users retaining funds on the platform, with further discussions expected. The statement announced consultation, not approval or completed repayments.⁠[22]

Founder: Sheldon Xia. Website: https://www.bitmart.com/ (opens in a new window). Official public channels include @BitMartExchange on X, BitMart on LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry and BitMart Exchange on YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry.⁠[23]