MEXC, a popular crypto exchange, has denied accusations of “stealing” customers’ profits when they make unusually large gains. The exchange states that its clawback policies, which some users claim led to unjust deductions from their accounts, are in place to protect against market manipulation. MEXC is currently ranked as the 11th-largest centralized crypto exchange based on trading volume, with around $1.3 billion in daily spot trading volume. It is particularly renowned for its perpetual futures trading platform, which sees over $7 billion in daily volume.
One user, going by the screen name “Al Gore Rhythms,” alleged that MEXC froze his account and deleted funds following several crypto perpetual futures trades. He claimed that his trades in BONK, ICP, SATS, and GROK altcoin perpetuals had increased by 380% to 2,200% when his account suddenly stopped working. Upon attempting to log in, he received error messages stating that his account had been restricted due to “risk control.”
According to Al Gore Rhythms, he later discovered that approximately $33,658 had been deducted from his spot account. This deduction was allegedly not recorded in his transaction history, but his balance reflected a reduction from $75,054.54 to $41,396.54.
When he reached out to customer service for clarification, MEXC representatives reportedly informed him that the exchange had taken measures to recover losses incurred from his account due to abnormal trading activities.
In response, Al Gore Rhythms requested a transaction record showing the deducted amount, claiming that he needed it for tax purposes. However, the exchange allegedly refused to provide this information and subsequently deleted his entire transaction history. He provided Cointelegraph with a video of his transaction history, which showed blank pages, and a screenshot of the transaction history before it was deleted.
Another user, Coach K Crypto, also accused MEXC of unjustly deducting funds from their account. According to a post by Mason Versluis, co-host of The Gold Pod, Coach K Crypto claimed that $330,000 was taken from their MEXC account due to abnormal profit, which a MEXC customer service representative allegedly referred to as a “crawback,” misspelling “clawback.”
MEXC responded to the post, asserting that its risk control policy does not impact ordinary users engaged in normal trading activities. The exchange’s spokesperson also mentioned an appeals process available to users who believe they have suffered unjust deductions as a result of this policy.
In February, Cointelegraph received a complaint from another MEXC user in Pakistan who claimed that the exchange had frozen their trades and caused them to be liquidated. The user alleged that the freeze prevented them from closing their trade, resulting in trading losses that could have otherwise been avoided. The exchange apparently offered them $3,000 in compensation in exchange for deleting their posts about the incident, but withdrew the offer once the posts lost traction. However, the user did not provide evidence of the offer.
A similar story was shared by crypto trader Hashmoney in a January thread. They claimed that when their account was frozen, they were unable to hedge their positions or reduce margins. Although they requested the customer support team to at least allow them to trade, they were only given a limited time to add to their position and were not permitted to close it. Consequently, their entire futures account was liquidated, resulting in losses and daily fees. Hashmoney alleged that they still had $600 remaining in the account but were unable to withdraw it due to the freeze.
MEXC responded to Hashmoney’s thread, stating that an investigation was underway and requesting the user to contact customer service for updates. However, no further updates have been posted at the time of publication.
Cointelegraph reached out to MEXC for comment but did not receive a response. According to a blog post on the exchange’s official website, “abnormal trading behavior” includes activities such as spoofing or using multiple accounts to artificially inflate trading volume. Al Gore Rhythms claimed that they did not own multiple accounts or engage in spoofing. MEXC faced similar allegations from multiple users in December, which the exchange dismissed as misinformation. The representative stated that clawbacks are only implemented after a strict review in accordance with user agreements.