IDAX Global CEO Disappears

Notice: This page is a freshly imported case study from the original repository. The original content was in a different format, and may not have relevant information for all sections. Please help restructure the content by moving information from the 'About' and 'General Prevention' sections to other sections, and add any missing information or sources you can find. If you are new here, please read General Tutorial on Wikis or Anatomy of a Case Study for help getting started.

Notice: This page contains sources which are not attributed to any text. The unattributed sources follow the initial description. Please assist by visiting each source, reviewing the content, and placing that reference next to any text it can be used to support. Feel free to add any information that you come across which isn't present already. Sources which don't contain any relevant information can be removed. Broken links can be replaced with versions from the Internet Archive. See General Tutorial on Wikis, Anatomy of a Case Study, and/or Citing Your Sources Guide for additional information. Thanks for your help!

File:D15shllkswkct0.cloudfront.net/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2019/12/idax.png

IDAX

All the funds appear to be held in a wallet under the control of a single individual Lei Guorong. It does not matter the size or international scope or reputation of the organization. If funds are held by one individual - they can disappear with them. The limited transparency and no legal backing presently available on exchanges make these types of situations highly possible. The situation would have been impossible with a proper multi-signature wallet held by multiple known individuals.

This exchange or platform is based in China, or the incident targeted people primarily in China.

About IDAX

“Cryptocurrency exchange IDAX Global has announced its CEO has gone missing.” The official announcement states, “IDAX Global CEO have gone missing with unknown cause and IDAX Global staffs were out of touch with IDAX Global CEO. For this reason, access to Cold wallet which is stored almost all cryptocurrency balances on IDAX has been restricted so in effect, deposit/withdrawal service cannot be provided.” “The IDAX staffers claim they have been unable to reach [Lei] Guorong and do not know his whereabouts at the moment.” The announcement came four days after the company said it would no longer provide services for users in China due to an official policy that makes exchanges illegal in the country. IDAX has since recommended that all users “refrain from using our all [sic] platform services.” “The shock announcement follows last week’s upheavals when the exchange revealed demand for IDAX withdrawals rose dramatically after it was pulled from the Chinese market.” “Presently, the staff of the exchange and the executive can neither claim to have access to the funds nor they can decipher the location where it is being held. So, due to these unfortunate circumstances; withdrawals and future deposits have been halted.” “IDAX’s official website states that it was founded in 2017 in Mongolia by an entity called the Global Blockchain Research Center (GBC).” “[T]he website of Nianxiang Group [indicated their] overseas business unit owns the Global Blockchain Research Center.” “According to Chinese business registration data, Nianxiang Group is solely owned by an individual called Lei Guorong and is registered in Shanghai.” “Exactly how much could have been stolen is pure speculation at this point. While little-known in the West, IDAX can’t be called a small exchange. By volume, the exchange was ranked 12th in the world with $757 million traded over a 24-hour period. At the very least, the amount stolen could be in the low millions of dollars but could be as high as hundreds of millions.”

This exchange or platform is based in China, or the incident targeted people primarily in China.

The background of the exchange platform, service, or individuals involved, as it would have been seen or understood at the time of the events.

Include:

• Known history of when and how the service was started.
• What problems does the company or service claim to solve?
• What marketing materials were used by the firm or business?
• Audits performed, and excerpts that may have been included.
• Business registration documents shown (fake or legitimate).
• How were people recruited to participate?
• Public warnings and announcements prior to the event.

Don't Include:

• Any wording which directly states or implies that the business is/was illegitimate, or that a vulnerability existed.
• Anything that wasn't reasonably knowable at the time of the event.

There could be more than one section here. If the same platform is involved with multiple incidents, then it can be linked to a main article page.

The Reality

This sections is included if a case involved deception or information that was unknown at the time. Examples include:

• When the service was actually started (if different than the "official story").
• Who actually ran a service and their own personal history.
• How the service was structured behind the scenes. (For example, there was no "trading bot".)
• Details of what audits reported and how vulnerabilities were missed during auditing.

What Happened

The specific events of the loss and how it came about. What actually happened to cause the loss and some of the events leading up to it.

Key Event Timeline - IDAX Global CEO Disappears

Date	Event	Description
November 1st, 2019 12:01:32 AM MDT	Main Event	Expand this into a brief description of what happened and the impact. If multiple lines are necessary, add them here.

Technical Details

This section includes specific detailed technical analysis of any security breaches which happened. What specific software vulnerabilities contributed to the problem and how were they exploited?

Total Amount Lost

The total amount lost is unknown.

How much was lost and how was it calculated? If there are conflicting reports, which are accurate and where does the discrepancy lie?

Immediate Reactions

How did the various parties involved (firm, platform, management, and/or affected individual(s)) deal with the events? Were services shut down? Were announcements made? Were groups formed?

Ultimate Outcome

What was the end result? Was any investigation done? Were any individuals prosecuted? Was there a lawsuit? Was any tracing done?

Total Amount Recovered

There do not appear to have been any funds recovered in this case.

What funds were recovered? What funds were reimbursed for those affected users?

Ongoing Developments

What parts of this case are still remaining to be concluded?

General Prevention Policies

Coming soon.

Individual Prevention Policies

No specific policies for individual prevention have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as an individual, check our Prevention Policies for Individuals guide.

Platform Prevention Policies

Policies for platforms to take to prevent this situation have not yet been selected in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as a financial service, check our Prevention Policies for Platforms guide.

Regulatory Prevention Policies

No specific regulatory policies have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of regulatory policies that can prevent loss, check our Prevention Policies for Regulators guide.