OKX tells users to stop direct MEXC transfers, says linked funds may be frozen
OKX founder Star Xu says the exchange has tightened controls before a US Treasury order against MEXC takes effect. Users report deposits from MEXC held at OKX.
· Effective · Verified 2026-11-09 via official announcement
Effective Nov 7, 2026: OKX tells users to stop direct MEXC transfers, says linked funds may be frozen. Affects: OKX customers who receive funds directly from MEXC accounts or addresses linked to MEXC. Source: x.com, verified Nov 9, 2026.
Official site: okx.com
OKX founder and CEO Star Xu told users on 7 November 2026 to avoid transferring funds directly from MEXC to OKX, saying funds tied to affected platforms may be frozen and related accounts investigated. His post followed a 6 November order from the US Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) that, once in force, bars US financial institutions from moving funds to or from MEXC Global.
Xu wrote that OKX treats FinCEN special measures with caution similar to sanctions and that, although FinCEN gave a 30-day transition period, OKX has already strengthened its controls instead of waiting for the deadline. He was replying to users who said deposits sent from MEXC were held as coming from a high-risk address. OKX has not published a formal notice, and it has not said how many deposits are held, whether indirect transfers are covered, or how long reviews take.
Treasury says MEXC Global handled at least $16 billion tied to sanctions evasion, cybercrime and other illicit activity between May 2021 and May 2026, including nearly $1.5 billion linked to Russian sanctions evasion and about $1 billion in direct transactions with more than 40 Iranian exchanges. The order was issued under section 9714 of the Combating Russian Money Laundering Act and takes effect 30 days after it is published in the Federal Register. CoinDesk reports MEXC says it is operating normally and has started an independent review of its anti-money-laundering and sanctions controls.
Users have also reported delayed or frozen MEXC-linked deposits and extra compliance reviews at other exchanges, including Binance and Gate, FinanceFeeds reported on 9 November, citing Wu Blockchain. Binance and Gate have not announced exchange-wide limits on MEXC deposits, and DexSheet did not find a published policy from either.
“OKX treats FinCEN special measures with a level of caution similar to sanctions. Under our compliance controls, funds associated with affected platforms may be frozen, and related accounts may be subject to further investigation.”
— Star Xu, OKX founder and CEO, on X
Who this affects
OKX customers who receive funds directly from MEXC accounts or addresses linked to MEXC. Other OKX deposits are not covered by Xu's statement.
OKX at a glance
OKX is a centralised crypto exchange, launched as OKEx in 2017, offering spot, perpetual and expiry futures, options, trading bots and earn products. The global schedule charges regular users 0.08% maker and 0.10% taker on spot and 0.02%/0.05% on futures. US residents use a separate platform run by OKX Inc. (not available in New York) whose fee page lists spot pairs only, at 0.20%/0.35% for regular users. In February 2025 the global operating entity pleaded guilty in the US to running an unlicensed money transmitting business.
Full OKX sheet · 0.2% round trip
Official site: okx.com
More from the newsroom
Sources
Last checked . Fees and terms change often; the venue's own page wins if it disagrees with ours.
- Star Xu on X - Please avoid transferring funds directly from MEXC to OKX (2026-11-07 22:59 UTC) — checked 2026-11-09
- US Treasury - Operation Economic Outcast Severs MEXC Global's Access to the U.S. Financial System — checked 2026-11-09
- FinCEN - Order on MEXC Global under section 9714 — checked 2026-11-09
- CoinDesk - U.S. Treasury moves to cut off crypto exchange MEXC over $16 billion in alleged illicit flows (2026-11-07) — checked 2026-11-09
- Bitcoin.com News - OKX Freezes MEXC User Deposits Following Strict FinCEN Order — checked 2026-11-09
- FinanceFeeds - Users report deposit restrictions at OKX, Binance and other exchanges following FinCEN action against MEXC (2026-11-09) — checked 2026-11-09
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