OKX Freezes 40,000 USDT in User Accounts, Rejects Pressure

Key Highlights:

• One of the X users raised a complaint on X about OKX freezing their four accounts.
• Star Xu said compliance rules override social media pressure.
• The user accepted fault and apologized to the exchange.

On January 11, 2026, an X user named captain0bunny posted a tweet that triggered a huge amount of hate and anger online. According to the user and his tweet, he claimed that 40,000 USDT held in USDG had been frozen across four OKX accounts, and called the funds, “life-saving money” that he urgently needed.

The user also posted that he had been a loyal exchange user for 12 years now. He had seen the exchange change from OKCoin, to OKEx and finally to OKX. He also holds OKB tokens and believes that OKX is one of the best Chinese exchanges out there and ranked Binance second best Chinese exchange.

The situation escalated when he revealed that there had been a family emergency. His father reportedly suffered a workplace accident, losing three fingers in a machinery accident and he urgently needed money for his father’s surgery. The frozen funds, he said, were earned over time and meant to pay for the medical expenses.

This combination where the funds have been frozen, personal loyalty to OKX and medical crisis fueled strong emotional reactions and public outrage on social media.

Risky Account Purchases and Frozen Deposits

Further details showed that in late 2023, after not being able to join OKX Jumpstart events from mainland China, the user bought four third-party KYC OKX accounts. The accounts were said to be inactive till November 2025 and in the same month he moved 10,000 USDG into each of these accounts so that he could participate in the exchange’s USDG promotion offering up to 10% APY.

When he tried to withdraw the funds, that’s when the user realised that the accounts were frozen, and the exchange requested selfie verification from the registered account holders. The user later admitted to buying the accounts and said he submitted on-chain proof and account access details, offering to accept audits, penalties, or loss of interest.

OKX Founder Defends Account Freeze

OKX founder Star Xu later responded to the tweet and rejected the users call to unfreeze the accounts due to social media pressure. He said that ignoring registered KYC identities based on emotional claims violate anti-money laundering and anti-fraud laws and put user assets at risk.

In his post, the founder also added that the account trading clearly breaches the exchange’s service agreement which is why the accounts were frozen in the first place and facial verifications were triggered.

Star even said that the exchange would only consider moving further if three conditions were met. The conditions put forward included registered account holder to formally give up his ownership of the accounts and the assets, the account is not subject to any legal freezes, law enforcement investigations or compliance risks, and the user provides verifiable proof of funds that meets regulatory standards.

The founder also stressed that emotional appeals or online pressure cannot change compliance decisions and that he will not make non-compliant exceptions.

User’s Follow Up

In a later post, the user thanked his supporters and crypto KOL’s and clarified that on-chain staking caused his liquidity issues and that he did not need fundraising help.

He said he would contact the registered KYC account holders through legal channels following what Star Xu suggested and he even promised to donate half of any recovered funds to charity.

He accepted responsibility for the compliance mistake, apologized publicly to the exchange and its official accounts and said that he trusted the exchange’s integrity. He ended the post saying that he would treat the loss like a liquidation and move ahead.

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