Orionx, a Chilean cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2017, announced the start of a definitive closure process on September 3 after a forensic audit found more than $7 million in custodial assets had moved to wallets the company did not control. The exchange suspended customer withdrawals and filed a criminal complaint against two of its own co-founders the day before the public announcement.
"Our sole priority now is to return as much of our clients' assets as possible," Orionx said, while acknowledging it could not guarantee full recovery for every customer.
The closure came 15 months after Tether exclusively led Orionx's Series A financing in June 2025, positioning the exchange as part of its Latin American expansion strategy. Tether has not publicly addressed the closure or disclosed whether it retained its investment.
Información importante
— Orionx (@orionx) September 3, 2026
Hoy Orionx informó el inicio de un proceso de cierre definitivo de sus operaciones.
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How the custody mismatch came to light
Orionx's chief operating officer Thomas Mac Millan detected a significant mismatch between balances recorded in the company's systems and assets actually held in custody on August 27, according to a criminal complaint filed with Chilean prosecutors and reported by La Tercera. An internal review followed, after which Orionx commissioned an external forensic audit that compared company records against blockchain data.
The audit found that customer balances recorded in Orionx's systems exceeded the assets held at its custody addresses for Bitcoin, Ether, XRP, and Polygon. The criminal complaint reportedly alleges that the transfers out of Orionx's custody occurred between 2018 and 2021, with some reporting from local outlets suggesting a concentration of transfers during 2021 and 2022. Those dates remain allegations drawn from the complaint rather than judicial findings.
Orionx has not published the affected wallet addresses, complete transaction hashes, or a breakdown of the shortfall by asset, which means independent blockchain researchers cannot yet verify the company's full accounting.
Two co-founders named in the criminal complaint
Orionx filed its criminal complaint on September 2 against former general manager Roberto Zibert and former technology manager Joaquín Díaz, both co-founders who allegedly held privileged access to the exchange's cryptocurrency custody systems. The complaint accuses them of alleged unfair administration and asks prosecutors to investigate any additional offenses supported by the evidence.
La Tercera reported that the filing claims an account associated with Díaz received more than $1.5 million across 14 transfers. A separate wallet allegedly received 187 ETH, more than 4.1 million USDT, and 200,000 USDC from Orionx-related addresses.
Zibert and Díaz denied the allegations in a joint response reported by Chilevisión, stating they never acted against customer interests and that the cause of the custody deficit had not been established. Neither former executive has been convicted. The complaint initiates an investigative process rather than proving Orionx's claims.
Chile's regulator had already rejected Orionx's license application
Chile's Financial Market Commission clarified on September 4 that Orionx was neither registered nor authorized under the country's Fintech Law at the time of closure. The regulator confirmed it had rejected Orionx's registration and authorization application on June 19. Until that rejection, the exchange had operated under a transitional arrangement available to companies awaiting licensing decisions.
After the application was rejected, Orionx could only wind down existing operations rather than enter new regulated transactions. The commission also said Orionx had not demonstrated it held the guarantees required from authorized financial service providers. Crucially, the regulator stated it lacks authority to direct Orionx to return customer assets, leaving affected users to pursue recovery through Chilean courts or by providing evidence to prosecutors.
Tether's Latin American strategy and what the Orionx investment represented
Tether has pursued an active investment strategy across Latin American fintech and crypto infrastructure since 2024. Beyond Orionx, Tether took a minority stake in Spanish crypto exchange Bit2Me, which also operates in Latin American markets. The Orionx Series A was presented as a vehicle for expanding stablecoin infrastructure into Chile, Peru, Colombia, and Mexico, with a stated focus on remittances, payment collection, and corporate treasury services. Latin America has been a high-growth region for stablecoin adoption, driven partly by currency instability in Argentina and Venezuela and partly by the cost of cross-border remittances from the United States. Orionx's collapse removes one of the more prominent Tether-backed platforms from a region the stablecoin issuer had publicly identified as a strategic priority.
The Chilean Fintech Law, formally the Ley Fintech enacted in 2023, created a licensing framework for financial service providers including crypto asset platforms. Orionx's failure to secure authorization under that law before the June 19 rejection placed it in a legally precarious position during the same period the custody mismatch was apparently present in its systems. The Commission's public clarification that it neither approved nor supervises the closure plan reflects a gap that the Fintech Law was designed to close but did not fully address for platforms already operating when the law took effect.
Orionx warned customers against potential impersonation attempts during the closure period, stating it would never request private keys, two-factor authentication codes, or transfers through telephone, WhatsApp, email, or social media. The exchange said the first phase of its closure process was underway but provided no repayment calendar. Full recovery for affected customers depends on what prosecutors locate in external wallets and whether courts issue orders freezing assets linked to the disputed transfers.
Tanya Petrusenko
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