BitMart employees hijack exchange's Chinese account demanding answers on frozen funds

Aug 17, 2026

The wind-down of cryptocurrency exchange BitMart has escalated into a public dispute. On August 17, 2026, individuals claiming to be employees hijacked BitMart's Chinese-language X account, demanding that founder Sheldon Xia explain frozen user withdrawals and unpaid staff salaries by August 19. Xia dismissed the allegations as fabricated rumors resulting from a hack, stating that a police report would be filed. Meanwhile, onchain investigators and investment firms like Echo Base are raising serious solvency concerns as tracked wallet balances have fallen to $36.5 million.

BitMart Chinese account hijacking

▪On August 17, 2026, individuals claiming to be employees took control of BitMart's official Chinese-language X account (@BitMart_zh) to publicly criticize the exchange's management.
▪BitMart founder Sheldon Xia (also referred to as Sheldon Lee) claimed that the exchange's Chinese-language X account had been hacked and that the posted allegations were fabricated rumors.

Frozen user withdrawals

▪BitMart blamed its initial withdrawal issues on May 23, 2026 on an alleged volume farming scheme involving 239 connected accounts.
▪BitMart users and an X user named BeardStaff reported that their withdrawals remained blocked or inaccessible following the exchange's July 26, 2026 wind-down announcement.

Unpaid employee salaries

▪The hijacked BitMart X account alleged that several employees had not received their final salaries, July salaries, or owed compensation from the company.
▪Sheldon Xia stated that employee assets are not prioritized over customer assets during the wind-down, asserting that "everyone is a client" and there are no privileges.

Asset disclosure demands

▪The authors of the hijacked BitMart X post threatened to submit evidence to regulators, law enforcement, lawyers, and media if a verifiable asset disclosure was not provided by the deadline.
▪The hijacked BitMart X account demanded that founder Sheldon Xia and partner Yi Li disclose the company's wallets, assets, liabilities, and usable reserves by August 19, 2026.

Sheldon Xia fraud denial

▪Sheldon Xia announced plans to file a police report and send a lawyer's letter to X to demand technical and data forensics regarding the hijacked account posts.
▪Sheldon Xia denied that BitMart had misappropriated user assets and stated on August 8, 2026 that the core team was busy inventorying assets for an orderly shutdown.

BitMart solvency concerns

▪Blockchain investigator ZachXBT publicly challenged Sheldon Xia to return user funds directly if BitMart possessed the necessary liquidity, rather than posting vague statements.
▪Crypto wallets tracked by Arkham and attributed to BitMart held approximately $36.5 million on August 17, 2026, down from roughly $71 million on July 26, 2026.
▪Roshan Dharia, CEO of distressed investment firm Echo Base, stated that BitMart failed to respond to a proposed funded restructuring package underwritten by his firm.