Bitforex Review – Sudden Shut Down

After getting blacklisted in Hong Kong, where the company claimed to operate, the website disappeared without any prior notice. As it appears, the Bitforex exchange owners decided to withdraw all 57 millions, how much was deposited there, and shut their website down. 

Since thousands of users were left broke and robbed, this Bitforex review is here to present potential solutions to your withdrawal issues.

Illicit and Blacklisted

The Bitforex website has existed for a long while, but did not become particularly active until the other half of 2018. Allegedly registered in Hong Kong, this false exchange has never obtained the necessary license as a virtual asset service provider in their jurisdiction. As a matter of fact, they were blacklisted by one of the most diligent financial authorities in the world – SFC. 

About a month before that, Jason Luo, the current CEO at the time, decided to step down from his position and leave the firm. That was probably the first warning sign.

After that, the website owners decided to quickly withdraw users’ assets and shut down the exchange altogether. According to the first Twitter post that addressed this sudden turn of events, a total of 56.6 million dollars were stolen. Left without any hope for withdrawing their funds, users are outraged. 

This is yet another example of a huge crypto robbery, so we recommend you always make sure your service provider is the best possible regulated one.

Social Network Propaganda

The bitforex.com domain itself might have been created in 2013, but it did not host a crypto exchange prior to 2017. Financial swindlers commonly purchase older domains in order to cover up the true age of their firm.

The majority of website visitors are from one of these countries:

• United States
• Brazil
• United Kingdom
• Germany

Much of the recruitment to the platform happened through one of the myriad social network channels the company operates. This included, for instance, two separate Instagram profiles, both claiming to be official.

There are also Facebook, X, Reddit and YouTube social media accounts, as well as LinkedIn and CrunchBase pages, but it doesn’t end there. The firm also operates a Telegram chat room, and is listed on CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko.

Low Client Satisfaction

Tens of thousands of traders have lost their access to the exchange, and any funds that might have been deposited. This is reflected in the Bitforex reviews we found on popular platforms like Reddit, TrustPilot and SiteJabber.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t all sunshine and butterflies even before the great rug pull. Many of the clients complained about exorbitantly high fees, as well as the company inventing various reasons to deny a payout.

You wouldn’t encounter these sorts of issues while trading with a regulated exchange such as Paybis. If you believe you’ve invested with an online scam, contact our legal experts to start a recovery procedure.

Industry Average Fees

When it came to spot trading, Bitforex fees charged were 0.10%. As for trading contracts, Taker/Maker fees started at 0.06% and 0.04%. While depositing crypto was free of charge, all withdrawal requests included a commission that had to be paid during the transaction. 

It, however, slightly differed depending on the currency chosen. For Bitcoin withdrawals, taxes were 0.0005 BTC, which was what the majority of crypto exchanges also charged. According to user reports from Sitejabber, however, hidden fees also existed and they were ruthless.

Referral Bonus and Bug Bounties

Functioning as a typical Ponzi scheme, this scam crypto portal tried to motivate existing users to bring in new victims. They did so by offering commission rewards from the fees paid by their affiliates. The percentage varied, depending on the number of referrals. Another way to gain users’ interest and trust was through rewarding bug reports.

All in all Mediocre Features

There was nothing particularly breathtaking about this textbook fraudulent exchange. Their simplistic web app didn’t quite instill trust, that’s for sure. The number of available assets was somewhat average, as well. The biggest problem, as it appears, was definitely lack of regulatory oversight and poor security.

Simplistic Web App

Somewhat comprehensive and intuitive, the web platform was mainly used for trading spots and futures. However, due to the trading server not being a legitimate one, making profit was extremely risky. 

Depositing funds on such shady portals usually ends in cyber thievery, so beware of the similarly operating firms, especially 24k Markets. Another software solution that was offered was MT5, which was additionally alluring to all investors.

Mobile Software Still in Stores

Although no longer present in the App Store, the Bitforex app can still be found on the Google Play website. The software has actually been downloaded more than 100k times. However, according to the newest user reviews, everyone is facing issues, especially with fund retrieval. 

List of Coins

Total number of available coins is no longer available. The exchange evidently offered the purchasing options for all major coins. Some of the examples are BTC, ETH, LTC, DOT, DOGE, XRP, OMI.

Single Trading Account

The company featured a single account archetype, with no variations or benefits for different clients. The basic Bitforex login account could be used to generate another trading account for MT5.

While this situation is not much different from legit exchanges, industry leading firms usually implement various VIP levels for high volume traders.

Constant Withdrawal Problems

Bitforex withdrawal was said to take up to 2 hours to process, which is of little comfort for the clients that got outright stonewalled by the company. Payouts were all done via crypto transfers, and include various coins like BTC, ETH, DATA, LYM and some others.

It’s important to note that the majority of Ponzi and rug pull schemes will allow you to withdraw a limited amount of money. If you believe a trading firm is holding back your profits, contact our experts.

Support Center Still Works

Although the website has gone blank, the support desk still seems active. That, unfortunately, doesn’t help the victims much, when no withdrawal options were left. Users can still, however, submit requests for assistance, if that helps. We believe not, sadly. 

How to Get Money Back From These Swindlers

This faux exchange bided its time in waiting for the opportune moment to execute their foul strategy. While the site was operational, nothing ever denoted that the exchange was on shaky legs, until the big rug pull happened.

Many con schemes use similar strategies to steal from their clients, which is exactly why you should double-check company regulation. If you’ve invested with an unlicensed firm, contact our experts as soon as possible in order to start asset recovery procedure.

FAQ Section