Customers of Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinsuper say they’ve been unable to withdraw money or tokens from the platform for several weeks, with some of them now reporting the matter to law enforcement.
As Bloomberg News reported Friday (Jan. 7), dozens of Coinsuper’s customers have been locked out of the exchange since the end of November, while five customers tell the news service they’d filed reports with police after withdrawals were frozen, leaving roughly $55,000 in cash and tokens stuck in their accounts.
And a venture capitalist that had backed the exchange to the tune of $1 million told Bloomberg they had written off their investment, having lost contact with its management team in mid-2021, while Chairman and CEO Karen Chen ceased contact on WeChat.
According to Bloomberg, data from Hong Kong’s Companies Registry shows several employees leaving Coinsuper in the second half of last year.
Founded in 2017 and backed by Pantera Capital, Coinsuper bills itself as a “crypto-to-USD, USD-to-crypto exchange.”
Read more: Hong Kong Residents Embracing Crypto Payments
Hong Kong residents have begun embracing crypto payments, as PYMNTS reported last month. Almost a fifth of the nearly 800 people who replied to a recent survey say they have used cryptocurrency to send or receive money, buy goods or accept payment.
That survey, conducted by Visa, also shows about a third of people who own crypto plan to switch to a bank that provides cryptocurrency services. Around 10% of respondents say they’ve bought cryptocurrency as an investment instead of for transactions.
Meanwhile, 88% said they’d be interested in crypto cards to convert and spend their digital currency at stores, and 86% want a service that lets users earn crypto as a spending reward. And 43% said they view crypto as a way to be part of the “financial way of the future,” while 32% are looking to diversity their investments.
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