Institutional investors were offered a paid service to withdraw Bitcoin from OKEx

Blockchain developer Zulu Republic, together with liquidity provider Alameda Research and the Whalepool trader community, announced a service for withdrawing funds from the cryptocurrency exchange OKEx.

2) @ztxrepublic has created an ERC20 token, NOBTC, which represents 1 BTC on OKEx. You can create/redeem for OKEx BTC it at their website: https://t.co/tvd6YfB3kh.

You can then trade NOBTC on two places: uniswap, and serum.

— SBF (@SBF_Alameda) October 21, 2020

They offer users a way to withdraw Bitcoin and USDT via ERC-20 tokens created specifically for this purpose: NOBTC and NOUSDT.

The exchange occurs automatically through an escrow account on OKEx and the corresponding token smart contracts at a 1:1 ratio.

As of writing, NOBTC on the Uniswap decentralized exchange is priced at around 0.9 BTC.

The service is targeted at institutional investors — the minimum order size is 100 BTC (over $1.2 million).

Users must pay a 1% fee for each swap and a regulatory-check fee. If a swap is cancelled, and OKEx suddenly reopens withdrawals, the client must also pay 1% of the transaction amount.

According to Zulu CEO Daniele Sestagalli, five institutional investors had used the offering in its first hours.

The token developers emphasise that clients using the service do so \”at their own risk\”.

4) Some notes:

a) Though I am advising, I\’m am not running the process or custodying the OKEx BTC; use at your own risk.

b) I have no idea if/when OKEx withdrawals will open up.

c) NOBTC will only be redeemable for a BTC if OKEx opens up withdrawals

d) not investment advice

— SBF (@SBF_Alameda) October 21, 2020

In a Bloomberg interview, Alameda CEO Sam Bankman-Fried suggested that withdrawals would be resumed only after several weeks or months.

Earlier, the Tron Foundation announced the termination of its fund-recovery program for OKEx users, as the exchange had blocked the organization’s accounts.

Earlier, OKEx suspended withdrawals on 16 October after one of the private-key holders stopped responding.

Local media reported the arrest of Star Xu, founder of OKEx and OKCoin.

OKG Technology Holdings Ltd., in its HKEx filing, said that Star Xu is under investigation, with the People\’s Republic of China\’s public security authorities handling the case. According to Bloomberg, Xu is the holder of a controlling stake in OKG.

The exchange also denied reports of large transfers after the withdrawal halt.

On 21 October OKEx resumed P2P trading of fiat currencies, but restricted internal transfers for some users.

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