Law Enforcement Investigating Former Hotbit Management Employee
Hotbit Crypto Exchange has suspended trading, deposits, and withdrawals from their service. The news comes after a number of Hotbit senior management have been subpoenaed, according to a Hotbit press release.
According to Hotbit, a former Hotbit management employee who left Hotbit in April was involved in a project last year. This project goes unnamed in the release, however, law enforcement is investigating said project for criminal activity. Hotbit claims the project was against their internal principles and unknown to them at the time.
Law enforcement has also frozen Hotbit Crypto Exchange funds, stopping the service from running as normal. Hotbit has said while they are applying to release the frozen assets, all users’ assets are still safe.
Hotbit will resume normal service as soon as the assets are unfrozen. All user’s assets and data on Hotbit are secure and correct.
Hotbit Crypto Exchange Team press release, Aug. 10
Hotbit has also shared an announcement on the treatment of user assets throughout the freeze:
1. User’s unfilled open order will be canceled before Hotbit’s service is recovered to prevent loss due to market fluctuations;
2. To prevent the loss caused by holding the positions, all user’s leveraged ETF positions will be forcibly liquidated according to the relevant net values by 12:00 PM UTC on August 10th, 2022;
3. The income of the user’s investment products will be distributed normally;
4. The compensation plan for users will be published when the website is resumed, please wait patiently.
There is currently no timetable on when trading, deposits, and withdrawals will resume on Hotbit. However, Hotbit is collaborating with law enforcement to follow up on the investigation and resume service. They will provide updates throughout and once the investigation is concluded with results.
