Xu Mingxing personally responded to the controversy. There are still questions about the closure of withdrawals. How can OK restore trust?

Around 7:40 am on November 20, OK founder Xu Mingxing posted a response to the recent turmoil on his WeChat Moments, adding the following words: "My heart is bright, what else can I say?"

The full text is as follows: Thank you all for your concern for me and the OK Group. In the days to come, I will visit each and every person who cares about and supports the OK Group to express my gratitude.

Regarding this incident, my unified response is as follows:

1. Our company completed an equity merger and acquisition transaction a few years ago. Since the acquired party was involved in a complex legal case, I was asked to cooperate with the investigation.

2. At present, the judicial authorities have ascertained the facts and cleared my name.

3. With regard to the malicious slander and personal attacks against me by certain people in the media and on the Internet, I will communicate and explain in a kind manner and clarify the facts, but I will reserve the right to take legal action.

4. I would like to thank the judicial organs for handling the case fairly, efficiently and professionally, which has brought the truth to light and made me feel fairness and justice. Thank you again for your concern and continued support.

In the early morning of November 19, Wu Blockchain exclusively disclosed that Xu Mingxing had gained some freedom. On the 18th, Xu Mingxing's WeChat step count suddenly showed 1050 steps after being 0 for several weeks. In the afternoon of the 19th, OKEx issued an announcement saying that "the problem has been resolved and the relevant personnel have returned to work." The specific timeline is as follows:

So far, OKEx has, to some extent, gotten out of the turmoil, and Xu Mingxing has indeed been freed. In contrast, Huobi is still in the turmoil, but since it is involved in the same case, Huobi's future development may be more optimistic.

The most important task for OKEx at present is, of course, how to do everything possible to regain the trust of users and retain users before the withdrawal of coins is launched on November 27. It is expected that various powerful activities will be launched one after another.

For OKEx, the most embarrassing and difficult question to answer may be why Huobi did not shut down withdrawals when it was also investigated, but OKEx chose to stop withdrawals?

There have been several speculations about this: 1. Xu refused to allow withdrawals for fear of being sidelined; 2. The police did not allow withdrawals (but Huobi did not stop withdrawals, which to some extent dispelled this speculation); 3. Xu was restricted in his freedom and could not allow withdrawals (but withdrawals should be allowed after the lawyers contacted him); 4. He was afraid of a run, so he chose not to allow withdrawals. But no matter which answer is given, there may still be some questions.

To some extent, OK opened up withdrawals after the crisis was resolved, and the actual effect was relatively better. Although Huobi did not stop withdrawals, it could not stop the crazy influx of Bitcoin into Binance, because the problem has not been completely solved, and Huobi could not completely dispel user concerns. Reference: Due to panic, Huobi Bitcoin "influx" Binance set a record for annual inflow and outflow

OKEx responded that the reason for the suspension of withdrawals was that a private key of the hot wallet could not be authorized. OKEx has always had a backup mechanism for private key managers to ensure that each private key manager can trigger the activation of the backup private key in the event of death or amnesia and other long-term inability to perform their duties. In this incident, the private key manager was unable to perform his duties in the short term, which was indeed beyond the scope of the original design mechanism. We deeply apologize for the inconvenience caused to everyone, and will improve the private key management mechanism as soon as possible to prevent such situations from occurring.

In short, the outside world's doubts about OKEx's internal management have not been eliminated, and an improved and more transparent private key management mechanism needs to be provided as soon as possible to better regain user trust.