What BaseFEX is
BaseFEX was a cryptocurrency derivatives exchange launched at the end of 2018 by founder and CEO Jesse Wu and chief technology officer Isaac Zeng, with a team in Hong Kong and a company registered in the Seychelles. It offered perpetual contracts on Bitcoin and on some altcoins, including Ethereum, XRP and BNB, settled in bitcoin or USDT and with leverage of up to 100x: at that level, an adverse move of less than 1% is enough to lose the entire margin. It used the absence of identity verification ("NO KYC EVER") as a marketing argument, along with the promise not to share customer data with governments or authorities.
Regulation and licences
(Verified: October 2026)
- MiCA: NOT APPLICABLE — BaseFEX has been inactive since 2022, before MiCA began to apply, and does not appear in the ESMA register of CASPs.
- No financial licence found: incorporation in the Seychelles as an International Business Company is a company registration, not an authorisation to provide financial services.
- No blocking order from CONSOB (Italy's securities regulator) for the name or the domain; no warning on the lists of the FCA, FINMA or Japan's FSA.
Security
There are no publicly documented cyberattacks or thefts of funds (Verified: October 2026). The safeguards claimed by the exchange, namely multi-signature cold wallets and withdrawals checked manually once a day, do not appear to have been verified by independent third parties. The real problem was the disappearance of the service without any traceable communication: anyone who held funds there has no supervisory authority or guarantee scheme to turn to.
Headquarters and contacts
- Base Investing Corporation, Seychelles International Business Company no. 205276, according to BaseFEX's terms of service and Coin Bureau (March 2023). (Verified: October 2026)
- No link to the website: the service is not operating.
Alternatives
For anyone looking for a similar service that is operating and authorised in the EU:
- Kraken — MiCA authorisation in Ireland (June 2025)
- OKX — MiCA authorisation in Malta (January 2025)
- Bybit — MiCA authorisation in Austria (May 2025)
FAQ
Is BaseFEX still active? Most likely not, although there is no record of an official closure announcement. (Verified: October 2026)
Can I recover funds left on BaseFEX? There is no record of any active channel or refund procedure; anyone promising to recover them in exchange for an upfront payment is following the typical pattern of "fund recovery" scams. (Verified: October 2026)
Was BaseFEX authorised to operate in the EU? No: there is no record of any authorisation in the European Union.
Verified sources
- https://www.esma.europa.eu/esmas-activities/digital-finance-and-innovation/markets-crypto-
- https://www.consob.it/web/area-pubblica/oscuramenti
- https://techbullion.com/?p=10075
- https://www.coinbureau.com/review/basefex
- https://www.cryptowisser.com/exchange/basefex/
