What AAX is
AAX (Atom Asset Exchange) was a cryptocurrency exchange based in Hong Kong, founded in 2018 and launched in November 2019. It presented itself as the first crypto exchange powered by LSEG Technology's Millennium Exchange engine, the same used by the London Stock Exchange, and targeted both retail and institutional audiences. On 13 November 2022, two days after FTX filed for bankruptcy, it suspended withdrawals citing "system maintenance"; by mid-December 2022 the website and app stopped working, leaving around two million registered users without access to their funds. The exchange never restarted. (Verified: September 2026)
Regulation and licences
- MiCA: NOT APPLICABLE — AAX ceased operating in 2022, well before the MiCA regime, and never held authorisations in the EU. There is no service to use: any website presenting itself today as "AAX" should be treated with the utmost suspicion. (Verified: September 2026)
- The proceedings over the company's remains were entrusted to the restructuring professionals at Quantuma, tasked with reconstructing the assets and maximising recovery for creditors across the roughly 160 countries where the exchange had users.
Security
The AAX case is not a hack but a management collapse with criminal implications:
- 13/11/2022 — withdrawals suspended for "maintenance"; social channels are progressively wiped.
- 16/12/2022 — website and app stop working.
- 23/12/2022 — Hong Kong police arrest Thor Chan, who had resigned as CEO in November 2022, and Liang Haoming (CEO of Weigao Capital), accused of using the maintenance excuse to delay withdrawals during a liquidity crisis.
- A third executive is reported to have fled abroad with private wallet keys worth around 30 million dollars; in 2023 movements of roughly 56 million in ETH were traced from wallets linked to the exchange.
- 18/07/2024 — So Wai-yee, identified by police as the mastermind of the operation, is arrested on returning to Hong Kong. (Verified: September 2026)
Alternatives
For those looking for an operational exchange authorised in the EU:
FAQ
- Is AAX still active? No. It suspended withdrawals on 13 November 2022 and ceased all activity in December 2022; it never restarted.
- Can I recover funds left on AAX? Recovery goes through the insolvency proceedings handled by Quantuma on behalf of creditors; there is no "official" refund channel via website or social media — pages promising one are scams.
- Why did AAX fail? The collapse is linked to a liquidity crisis that erupted in the days of the FTX bankruptcy and was handled — according to the Hong Kong police allegations — by hiding the situation from users behind fake maintenance.
Verified sources
- https://cointelegraph.com/news/2-executives-of-crypto-exchange-aax-arrested-in-hong-kong-r
- https://www.consultancy.uk/news/34261/cross-border-quantuma-team-working-on-aax-collapse
- https://cointelegraph.com/news/56-million-moved-defunct-exchange-executives-fled-report
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atom_Asset_Exchange
TEAM MEMBERS
LEADERSHIP
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