What Phemex is
Founded in 2019 in Singapore by Jack Tao, a former vice president at Morgan Stanley, Phemex is a centralised exchange specialising in cryptocurrency derivatives, which later grew in spot and earn products too. It became known for its high-performance infrastructure (orders with sub-millisecond latency) and for a direct relationship with its community: the CEO has historically been reachable on the exchange's social channels. Jack Tao remains its founder, while operational leadership rests with the Italian Federico Variola, CEO, already in office at the time of the January 2025 hack (Verified: September 2026). It remains an offshore operator with respect to Europe: without a MiCA licence, since 1 July 2026 it cannot legally offer its services to European Union users.
Regulation and licences
(Verified: September 2026)
- MiCA: NO — Phemex does not appear in the ESMA register of authorised CASPs (331 operators as at the verification date) and there is no public application in progress.
- Since 01/07/2026, the end of the transitional regime, Phemex cannot legally serve EU clients. Anyone holding funds there should consider transferring them to an authorised operator.
- Headquartered in Singapore; operations are aimed at non-EU markets.
Security
On 23 January 2025 Phemex suffered the year's first major hack: around 69-85 million dollars (estimates vary between analytics firms) taken from hot wallets across several blockchains (Ethereum, Solana, XRP, Bitcoin). The cold wallets were untouched. The response was swift: withdrawals suspended and then restored in stages between 24 and 26 January with manual approval, and the announcement of a compensation plan for affected users. Several analysts suggested a link to the North Korean Lazarus group, never officially confirmed. The exchange has not published a final account of how the compensation plan was applied. On the preventive side: cold storage with offline signatures under dual human control.
Alternatives
For those looking for derivatives with an EU-authorised operator:
FAQ
Is Phemex legal in the EU? No, not any more: without a MiCA licence, since 1 July 2026 it cannot legally offer services to EU clients (Verified: September 2026).
Did the January 2025 hack wipe out user funds? No: the theft (around 70 million dollars) concerned the company's hot wallets, the cold wallets remained intact and withdrawals were restored within days, with a compensation plan announced by the exchange (Verified: September 2026).
Verified sources
- https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/hackers-steal-85-million-worth-of-cryptocur
- https://crypto.news/hackers-steal-70m-from-phemex-in-2025s-largest-attack-so-far/
- https://phemex.com/announcements/phemex-hot-wallet-security-incident-update-and-timeline
- https://casptracker.eu/
TEAM MEMBERS
LEADERSHIP
HQ OF THE PHEMEX
100 Tras St, Singapore 079027
CONTACTS OF THE PHEMEX
All images, branding and wording are copyright Phemex. All content on this page is used for informational purposes only. Spaziocrypto has no affiliation or relationship with the company mentioned on this page.
