Long-term stoppage of withdrawals
Many people think that Atom Asset Exchange (AAX), which hasn’t been working since mid-November, could be the next cryptocurrency exchange to fail after FTX.
On the 28th of the same month, AAX’s head of communications said he was leaving the company. In an interview with the U.S. cryptocurrency news site CoinDesk, he said that it was more likely that the exchange would “move into legal proceedings” instead of going back to normal.
In a statement released on November 13, AAX said that it would be making changes to its system “to protect users from malicious attacks.” It said that it would stop withdrawals and transactions to avoid risks like “fraud and exploitation,” but that it would try to “restart normal operations for all users within 7 to 10 days.”
After the withdrawals were stopped on November 15, a statement said that “some investors” had said they wanted to get their money out because of how the FTX bankruptcy would affect them. Because of the risk of not having enough money, it was necessary to get more money. showed that there were
On November 19, he said that he was in talks with several investors about raising money. He said that things would be back to normal in a few weeks. But since AAX said on the 21st that all users’ futures positions would be automatically closed, the company has stopped making announcements.
đŸ“£Announcement of Automatic Liquidation of AAX Futures Positions
— AAX (@AAXExchange) November 21, 2022
In order to protect the rights and interests of users, during the system maintenance period, AAX will automatically liquidate all futures positions on the platform.
Please find the details below.
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As talks with investors went on, retired communications chief Ben Caselin said that “information flow got worse quickly and decision-making got less clear.” “I fought for the community, but every idea I came up with was shot down, and my job felt empty,” said Caselin, explaining why he quit.
Dear all, it’s true I have resigned from AAX. I did fight for the community but none of the initiatives we came up with were accepted. Any role I had left for communication became hollow.
— â‚¿en Caselin HODL (@BenCaselin) November 28, 2022
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angry Nigerian AAX user
AAX works all over the world, including in Nigeria, which has a lot of cryptocurrency users.
Local news source Legit said on the 3rd that it looks like users attacked the AAX headquarters in Nigeria. Users are said to have attacked employees out of anger and irrationality and asked for their money back.
The Blockchain Technology Stakeholders Association of Nigeria (SIBAN) put out a statement on November 28 in response to this kind of user behavior. He asked for understanding and patience because employees are also victims who are in the same situation as users.
At the same time, SIBAN said that since it’s been more than 10 days since AAX said it would stop withdrawals, there is no longer a need for AAX to stop withdrawals “Users of AAX, especially Nigerian users, the industry as a whole, and the general public all have a lot of doubts and fears about it. It makes sense that there was a feeling of mistrust, “He said this to show that he understood how customers felt.”
SIBAN also pointed out that AAX’s system upgrade happened as the effects of FTX’s bankruptcy spread to the industry. “In the first place, the timing is suspicious, and questions remain,” SIBAN said. He also said that AAX didn’t do anything to keep its customers’ trust, even though it said it would update them every day.
Mr. Caselin still thinks that this uproar will be “handled without malice,” but he also says that AAX has taken a lot of damage. He “no longer has brand power, and his credibility is gone,” he said.