The head of the cryptocurrency platform BitMart has rejected recent public calls for independent verification of the exchange’s financial position. This comes as multiple clients say their funds remain inaccessible and some workers report unpaid wages from the previous month.
Sheldon Lee, the founder, issued statements on his personal X account responding to a message that appeared on BitMart’s official Chinese-language account.
That message, which Lee asserts resulted from unauthorized access, demanded that he and associate Yi Li release details of the platform’s wallets, total assets, outstanding liabilities, and liquid reserves.
It further requested that these figures undergo independent third-party review and set a response deadline of August 19.
Lee described the content as entirely fabricated.
He noted that his team had gathered complete evidence of the material and planned to file a police report during US business hours while also sending a formal legal notice to X seeking technical and forensic analysis of the account activity.
On the matter of employee compensation, he stated that staff claims receive no preferential treatment over those of customers, emphasizing that all parties are regarded equally with no special privileges.
The exchange had earlier announced a gradual cessation of operations, designating August 26 as the final trading day.
Since that declaration, a significant number of account holders have reported persistent difficulties withdrawing their holdings.
The contested post highlighted these ongoing issues, observing that many users still cannot retrieve their assets and that various employees have not received July salaries or related severance.
It characterized the situation as exceeding a standard commercial disagreement that could be dismissed with a simple announcement of closure.
已对X内容全部取证，全是造谣，美国时间白天会进行报警以及向X发律师函，要求技术和数据取证。其他请耐心等待公告。员工资产并不优先于客户资产，大家都是客户，没有特权。
— Sheldon (@sheldonbitmart) August 17, 2026
Lee’s replies focused primarily on the alleged account compromise rather than supplying specific timelines for fund releases or detailed balance-sheet information.
PS. 已确认痕迹，此中文官方账户已被盗，非现任员工发布。
— Sheldon (@sheldonbitmart) August 17, 2026
Affected individuals have continued to press for clarity.
One user reported substantial personal balances remaining locked since the wind-down notice and noted that a dedicated support contact had severed communication.
On-chain researcher ZachXBT publicly suggested that genuine liquidity would best be demonstrated by restoring access to customer funds instead of offering general comments.
A representative of the distressed-asset firm Echo Base separately disclosed that an offer of structured financing and reorganization support had been extended to BitMart but received no reply.
The firm indicated that resolving claims from a large, dispersed retail customer base would likely require formal court proceedings.
If no satisfactory reply materializes by the stated deadline, the authors of the original message indicated they would forward available documentation, transaction records, and related evidence to law-enforcement agencies, regulators, legal counsel, and media outlets across multiple jurisdictions.
As the final trading date nears, questions surrounding the availability of customer assets and the exchange’s remaining resources continue to intensify, illustrating the complexities that can accompany the wind-down of a centralized digital asset platform when transparency concerns remain unresolved.