BitMart founder to report alleged employee claims to police

BitMart founder Sheldon Xia says he plans to involve law enforcement and pursue data forensics after employees confronted management over unpaid salaries. The move marks a sharp escalation in what has become an increasingly messy shutdown of the centralized crypto exchange, which announced its wind-down on July 26. BitMart’s closure was never going to be smooth. The Cayman Islands-registered exchange halted new user registrations immediately when it announced the shutdown, with spot and futures trading set to end by August 26 and full operations winding down by January 31, 2027. But the timeline has been overshadowed by a cascade of complaints. Users have reported delayed withdrawals. Former employees say they can’t access funds or collect unpaid wages. A Hungarian firm has lodged a police complaint over roughly $80,000 in frozen assets. On August 8, Xia publicly denied any misappropriation of funds, stating that his core team is conducting an asset inventory and processing withdrawal requests. The denial came amid growing online chatter questioning whether BitMart has the assets to make users whole. BitMart’s credibility problems didn’t start with this shutdown. The exchange suffe...