OKX blocks $400,000 account over missing 2020 logs

OKX blocked a client’s account in 2025 over trades from 2020.

Andrey from Russia, a client of the OKX cryptocurrency exchange, contacted ForkLog after facing an account block in July 2025 over trades from five years earlier. Nine months of exchanges with the platform yielded nothing, and he lost access to $400,000.

The issue

According to the user, on 11 January 2025 OKX’s risk-control system flagged his account. The exchange verified him by video and in April requested detailed information on the case — in particular, OKX was interested in the large volume of trades dated 14 August 2020.

Andrey explained this as “active trading on the platform, including scalping and trading within the spread to profit from short-term price fluctuations”.

On 20 May the administration informed him that no additional documents or information were required at that stage.

On 21 July OKX notified the user that his account had been blocked for violating clauses 3, 5 and 7 of the Terms of Service. These concern prohibited commercial activities, trading on the platform and the exchange account, respectively.

“I asked which specific actions violated these clauses. The exchange replied that it supposedly ‘did not receive the necessary explanations and evidence after repeated requests’ and therefore could not continue servicing my account. Yet I received no additional requests,” said Andrey.

He considered this a procedural error and wrote as much in his reply.

A week later, on 30 July, the exchange demanded that within seven days he send additional documents explaining his trading methodology and how he selected trading pairs.

“I sent all the materials I had kept from that period five years ago. At the time I was trying market making using the methodology described by BitMEX — placing orders at the edges of the spread at the minimum buy price and maximum sell price. I fully described the essence of my trading operations, but since the script that finds pairs with a spread (the difference between bid and ask) output information to the console, I could not have any notes left,” he explained.

The client claims the platform retroactively changed the document requirements. Under them, he must retain all materials, full logs of trades and of decision-making for five years. No such requirement had previously been set.

“The exchange completely ignored the market_data.json document, even though it remained unchanged for five years and contained historical data on the parameters of trading pairs on 14 August 2020. OKX also did not review the scripts’ contents, even though they contain historical endpoints and the old domain okex.com. As an external user I cannot prove the scripts’ functionality, since the trading pairs have long been delisted and the historical data do not contain records for 2020,” the client added.

Andrey maintains that his strategy was legitimate, as it was “market making without hedging on futures”.

On 29 September, after nine months of back-and-forth, OKX closed the ticket without the possibility of review. The user’s account remains blocked and the funds frozen.

The exchange’s comment

In a comment to ForkLog, OKX representatives said that “all necessary clarifications on the case” had been provided to the user in the final support email. If further questions arise, they recommended contacting support chat.

The platform disclosed no other details, citing its privacy policy.

“We cannot pass data about any cases related to clients to third parties,” a representative of the exchange said.

Instances of wrongful OKX blocks

In July, OKX CEO Star Xu apologised to users for unwarranted account blocks. He explained them as “false positives” by the compliance system.

According to the head of the exchange, problems persist in these processes, such as “a high rate of erroneous judgments and suboptimal information gathering”. The platform is doing all it can to improve processes, he assured.

As of July, OKX’s global compliance team and risk-control group numbered more than 600 people.

Not your keys — not your coins

Despite the convenience of holding cryptocurrency on an exchange, this is not suitable for long-term storage of large sums. The administrators of a centralised trading platform hold the private and public keys, so they or attackers can gain access to clients’ assets.

In addition, as a legal entity an exchange must comply with legislation and law-enforcement demands. Given an appropriate request, a user’s funds can be easily frozen for an indefinite period.

For full control over one’s cryptocurrencies, it is preferable to choose non-custodial solutions.

In April 2024, OKX denied the targeted blocking of clients from the CIS. According to the exchange, it does not freeze user accounts without cause; restrictive measures are introduced only when violations are identified.