The cryptocurrency industry continues to endure a painful period of consolidation. This week, two well-known projects—the exchange AscendEX and the DeFi tracker Zapper—announced the winding down of their operations. These are not isolated incidents but a reflection of the deep-seated problems even established players are facing.
The Collapse of AscendEX: Regulatory Pressure and Liquidity Shortage
The crypto exchange AscendEX, formerly known as BitMax, has officially ceased operations. The platform stopped working as early as July 1. The company's management directly cites regulatory pressure as one of the key reasons. In particular, the entry into force of the MiCA regime in the European Union became an insurmountable barrier—the platform simply lacks the necessary authorization to operate under the new conditions.
However, regulatory difficulties are just the tip of the iceberg. Internal financial and operational problems proved no less severe. The company acknowledged a critical liquidity shortage that arose after a strategic deal fell through. An unnamed counterparty failed to fulfill its obligations, pushing the exchange to the brink of survival.
The situation is exacerbated by the fact that users are unlikely to be able to withdraw their funds in full. The administration has already warned: "We are assessing the company's financial position and considering available options. If an official bankruptcy procedure is initiated, the distribution of remaining assets will take place within its framework." Automatic withdrawals have been disabled, all requests undergo manual verification, and no one can guarantee either the timing or the amounts of payouts.
Notably, as early as June, on-chain analyst ZachXBT pointed out the exchange's problems. An analysis of hot wallets revealed nearly empty reserves in ETH, USDT, USDC, and SOL. Affected users are strongly advised to immediately contact law enforcement agencies. Recall that in 2021, AscendEX had already suffered a hack, losing over $77 million. Unfortunately, history is repeating itself.
Zapper: The End of an Era for DeFi Trackers
Simultaneously, the co-founder of the DeFi dashboard Zapper, Seb Ode, announced the complete closure of the service. The website, mobile apps, and API will be shut down on August 3. The project, launched in 2019, has come a long way from a simple portfolio tracker to a full-fledged platform with DEX aggregation, NFT support, and other Web3 tools, including a Farcaster client.
At its peak popularity, Zapper served up to 2 million active users per month, with the volume of processed transactions exceeding $13 billion. However, even the previously raised $15 million in investments did not save the project. Ode called an "orderly wind-down" the best scenario under current market conditions. He admitted that the team was unable to fully realize its mission of simplifying access to DeFi, despite making a significant contribution to popularizing the on-chain economy.
My analysis: The closures of AscendEX and Zapper are links in the same chain. The market is overheated, regulators are tightening requirements, and users are becoming increasingly demanding regarding security and transparency. Projects that failed to build a sustainable business model or adapt to new realities are doomed. This is a harsh but necessary cleansing process that, in the long term, will make the crypto industry stronger.