Atom Asset Exchange (AAX)
A Hong Kong-based crypto exchange that halted withdrawals on November 13, 2022 — two days after FTX's bankruptcy — blaming a 'system upgrade' and counterparty risk. Withdrawals never resumed; Hong Kong police treated it as suspected fraud and arrested senior executives, while analysts tracked tens of millions in user crypto being moved off the platform.
Also known as: Atom Asset Exchange, AAX, AAX exchange
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On November 13, 2022, Atom Asset Exchange (AAX) suspended withdrawals, initially citing a scheduled system upgrade and later "counterparty risk" exposure following the collapse of FTX. The platform's social channels were wiped and customers were never able to withdraw again. Hong Kong police said the purported "maintenance" appeared to be a means of preventing users from accessing their assets. [1][2]
Arrests and missing funds
In December 2022 Hong Kong authorities arrested two senior AAX figures, including its CEO, on suspected fraud, while other principals were reported to have fled. Anti-money-laundering analysts later traced large outflows — including tens of thousands of ETH (worth roughly $50M+) routed through cross-chain bridges and stablecoin swaps — from AAX-linked wallets, and creditors pursued winding-up proceedings against the parent company. Pending charges are allegations. [1][3]
Bracketed numbers refer to the numbered sources listed below.
Sources (3)
See also
- Gala Games exploitTokensOn May 20, 2024 an attacker abused a privileged minter account on the GALA token contract to mint 5 billion GALA (≈$200M+ nominal) and dumped ~600M of them for ~$22M of ETH before Gala froze the address. Gala Games called it an internal access-control failure; the attacker later returned the ~$22M.
- HEX / PulseChain (Richard Heart)ProjectsCrypto projects (HEX, PulseChain, PulseX) created by Richard Heart (Richard Schueler). In July 2023 the U.S. SEC sued him for offering unregistered securities that raised $1B+ and for allegedly misappropriating ~$12M for luxury goods (including a 555-carat diamond). A court dismissed the case in 2024 for lack of U.S. jurisdiction; there was no finding of wrongdoing and Heart denies the allegations.
This page was last updated on Jun 15, 2026. View revision history.