AscendEX: crypto exchanges rating breakdown
Crypto exchange · reviewed against our published rubric, no affiliate links
CEASED OPERATIONS on 1 July 2026 after failing to obtain a MiCA licence, amid a liquidity crisis. Withdrawals were moved to manual review with no guarantee of processing. Our own measurement run could not reach its order book — the API returns a web page. Do not sign up. We list it because a comparison that quietly deletes the venue that just collapsed teaches the reader nothing.
Incidents priced into this score
December 2021: a hot-wallet compromise of about $77.7m, after which users were made whole. The 2026 shutdown is the more serious event: withdrawals are on manual review with no guarantee they will be processed. [source]
Questions about this score
What happened to AscendEX?
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It shut down on 1 July 2026 after failing to obtain a MiCA licence, during a liquidity crisis, and moved withdrawals to manual review with no guarantee of processing. Anyone still holding a balance there should treat recovery as uncertain and pursue it through whatever formal process the company or its administrators publish.
Why is a closed exchange still in this rating?
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Because deleting it would be the dishonest option. A comparison that quietly removes the venue that just collapsed leaves its readers with the impression that exchanges do not collapse. AscendEX is also the clearest argument for measuring rather than compiling: our automated run flagged the venue because its order book endpoint stopped returning an order book, not because we read a press release.
Were AscendEX users repaid after its 2021 hack?
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After the December 2021 hot-wallet compromise of about $77.7m, users were reported made whole. The 2026 shutdown is the more serious event and its outcome is unresolved: withdrawals on manual review with no guarantee of processing is not a make-whole, and there is nothing yet to confirm.