OKX Asks Users to Stop Direct MEXC Transfers Ahead of FinCEN Cutoff

OKX founder and CEO Star Xu asked customers on Saturday to stop sending money straight from MEXC to OKX, two days after FinCEN's order against MEXC. "Please avoid transferring funds directly from MEXC to OKX," Xu wrote on X at 5:59 p.m. ET.

Xu said OKX treats FinCEN special measures "with a level of caution similar to sanctions." Funds tied to affected platforms may be frozen, he wrote, with the related accounts open to further investigation. FinCEN allowed a 30-day transition, but OKX tightened its controls without waiting.

A user's 860 USDT sat in review

Xu was answering an X user who said deposits from their own MEXC account, 848.8 USDT on Tron and 11.7 USDT on Ethereum, were held for risk review after OKX flagged a "potentially high-risk address." PANews and Crypto Briefing also reported Xu's remarks.

How does a deposit get stuck? Exchanges run incoming transfers through analytics tools that score the sending addresses. If a source is tied to a flagged platform, the deposit is parked while compliance staff ask where the money came from. FinCEN's order itself only bars covered U.S. financial institutions from moving funds to or from MEXC Global. OKX's step is its own policy.

Treasury alleges MEXC facilitated at least $16 billion in illicit transactions from May 2021 to May 2026, as Black Mint reported Friday. The ban starts 30 days after the order is published in the Federal Register. It was not on the Register's public inspection list late Saturday ET.

MEXC says it is operating normally

MEXC said in a statement that it is reviewing the order with its legal and compliance teams, that "user assets remain secure," and that it has begun an independent review of its anti-money-laundering and sanctions controls. CEO Vugar Usi said Saturday that deposits and withdrawals had not been suspended, The Crypto Times reported.

Xu did not say how many accounts or how much money OKX has held.

In our opinion: the legal clock hasn't started, yet a major offshore exchange is already handling MEXC money the way it handles sanctioned money. That puts the first cost on ordinary MEXC customers, and Xu's own post allowed that a user hit by it could be "an innocent user caught up in this situation." Watch for the Federal Register notice, which starts the 30 days, and for any other exchange that posts similar deposit rules before it lands.