What Happens to Your Assets If a Crypto Exchange Goes Bankrupt?

The bankruptcy or shutdown of a crypto exchange is one of users' biggest worries. What happens to the assets in this case depends largely on how customer assets are held. This article covers the subject for information purposes.

🗂️ Segregation of Customer Assets

One of the key obligations of regulated platforms is to keep customer assets separate from the company's own assets. This segregation aims to protect customer assets if the platform runs into financial trouble.

⚠️ Without Segregation

On platforms that do not segregate assets, or that are non-compliant, user assets may become mixed with the platform's general assets. In that case, in a bankruptcy, users may rank equally with other creditors and a serious risk of loss arises.

🛡️ The Way to Protection

The soundest protection is to prefer platforms that are licensed by the SPK and segregate customer assets. Past examples show that the main cause of large losses was a lack of compliance.

🔗 Related Topics

For a licensed platform, see our article on how to tell an SPK-licensed exchange.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions