MEXC Chief Strategy Officer Cecilia Xue has issued a public apology to crypto trader The White Whale and confirmed that more than $3 million in frozen funds have been released. This marks a major reversal after months of public debate.
The trader has been campaigning relentlessly against the exchange to freeze his funds since August. MEXC reportedly also required in-person KYC.
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MEXC admits fault and promises reform
In a candid post on X, Xue acknowledged that MEXC’s rapid growth has outpaced its internal infrastructure, saying the exchange’s “risk, operations, and PR teams have not kept up.”
The new CSO took responsibility for the miscommunication and pledged to drive leadership changes to improve transparency and operational consistency.
The apology marks the first time MEXC has publicly acknowledged that it mishandled the incident. The dispute began in July when the trader’s account was frozen under a “risk management” protocol.
Whitewhale, who first went public with the dispute in August, acknowledged that his funds had been released but said his apology lacked clarity.
“I’m grateful, but it wasn’t specified what they were apologizing for,” he said. “It would have been better to imply that I was a criminal or a con artist.”
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He reaffirmed that he never uses automated trading bots or privileged API access. Instead, Whale claimed that his only “crime” was consistently making money on the platform.
$3 million donated to supporters and charities
White Whale announced that it would donate all collected funds instead of keeping them.
Half will go to early supporters through his NFT campaign. The remainder will be distributed to qualified nonprofit organizations.
He said the airdrop claim mechanism and community voting system will be launched within the next few days.
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“It’s unfair that people who have followers are given special treatment,” he said. “I didn’t think it was right to get the money back just for myself.”
how it all started
BeInCrypto first covered this story in an exclusive interview earlier this year, in which The White Whale accused MEXC of freezing $3.1 million in funds for no reason.
He said the exchange then required him to fly to Malaysia to verify his identity, a condition not mentioned in the terms and conditions.
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In that interview, he said the exchange’s corporate structure limited his legal options and that his only path was public advocacy. At the time, MEXC denied any wrongdoing, citing “potential risks” based on its compliance system.
The story attracted global attention, with industry observers citing it as a wake-up call about intensive currency monitoring and opaque risk management.
This case became a benchmark case for user rights and operational transparency in centralized exchanges.
Mr. Xue’s apology suggests that MEXC recognizes the need for reform, particularly in the way it communicates compliance activities and responds to fund freezes. The case highlights the growing influence of public pressure to hold exchanges accountable.
“The battle has been won, but the war is not over yet…This is about solving our own problems before the government solves them for us,” Whitewhale wrote.