Recently, multiple users of the crypto exchage Websea broke the news that it is no longer possible to withdraw coins from the WebSea platform. On August 5, Websea officially announced that it had decided to immediately suspend deposit and withdrawal services due to a serious unknown attack.
Websea needs to conduct comprehensive security maintenance and resume services after determining that there is no risk.
However, half a month later, Websea’s deposit and withdrawal services have not been fully restored.
On August 20, Websea stated on the official X platform that it was still undergoing comprehensive security upgrades and announced new strategic developments. The full text makes no mention of when Websea will resume deposit and withdrawal services, and the latest announcement on the official website is still on August 7.
On the evening of the 20th, Websea's official
On the afternoon of the 21st, Websea's official X platform also announced that it will launch a new game token-MH token on August 22 (GMT+8). Although Websea's official
Officials continue to not respond positively
ChainCatcher contacted Websea officials to inquire about the resumption progress of the platform's deposit and withdrawal services. As of press time, no reply has been received. A Websea staff member contacted by ChainCatcher also resigned in June.
According to public information, Websea is a crypto exchage registered in Singapore. It was officially launched on August 28, 2023. It officially announced that the number of registered users exceeded 400,000 on January 3, and on July 26, it announced that the number of registered users exceeded 65 Ten thousand.
Difficulties in withdrawing money were already evident 3 months ago, and the official community suspected that a large number of trolls were posting comments.
Judging from the official Chinese Telegram of Websea, some platform users reported that they were unable to withdraw coins in May. The user said that without any reason, his login permission and currency withdrawal permission were blocked, and no relevant personnel took the initiative to contact the user to deal with follow-up issues.
The user contacted the specialist via email, but only received a response waiting for the specialist to review, and has still not successfully withdrawn the currency.
On the evening of August 4, several users were unable to withdraw coins. On August 5, Websea officially announced that due to a serious unknown attack, it decided to suspend deposit and withdrawal services and resume services after it is determined that there is no risk.
On August 7, Websea platform currency WBS fell below $0.15 in 24 hours, a drop of more than 80%. On the same day, Websea officially announced again that it expected to resume the deposit and withdrawal functions of some tokens at 17:00 (GMT+8) on August 7, and the current WBS fell back to about $0.5.
After the announcement, several users of Websea's official Chinese Telegram reported that the withdrawals were successful, and the withdrawal amounts were between 40U-2550U. However, many users still reported that they were unable to withdraw funds.
After nearly half a month, Websea failed to fully resume deposit and withdrawal services. On August 20, it was announced on the official X platform that it was still undergoing a comprehensive security upgrade.
In addition, Websea also announced two important developments. One is that it has received support from new strategic investors, but did not disclose who the specific investors were. The second is to announce the transformation and upgrading of the platform, which will focus on the game ecology.
Somewhat abnormally, in the face of restrictions on currency withdrawals, Websea's official Chinese Telegram has made a lot of comments defending Websea and even criticizing and questioning the platform's running away. It is suspected that a large number of trolls have come to brush comments and cover up the abnormal operation of the platform.
Websea has been unable to withdraw cash for a long time, and has repeatedly cited "attacks", "system upgrades" and other reasons to appease the public. The situation is very similar to the situation before the smash hit crypto exchage FCoin announced its collapse.
Similar to FCoin collapse event
In February 2020, FCoin announced its bankruptcy. It was unable to withdraw cash one month before. Later, FCoin repeatedly announced that it had encountered technical failures and required system adjustments.
But in the end, FCoin founder Zhang Jian officially announced his "running away" in the "FCoin Truth", admitting that he had lied before. The problem FCoin currently faces is not a technical problem that the system cannot recover, nor a problem of internal strife in the team, but the fundamentals of capital reserves. User withdrawal cannot be redeemed.
It is not yet completely confirmed whether Websea's team ran away or encountered technical or operational adjustments. Judging from the team background information, the core team of Websea is relatively mysterious and has a very broad business scope.
The top management of the team is very mysterious, and they may have gained more than 600,000 customers through team-building incentives.
Judging from public channels such as the Web3 asset data platform RootData, only one COOHerbert Sim of the Websea core team has public information and public appearances.
In August 2023, Herbert Sim released a letter to the crypto community on the X platform as COO, claiming to be a big V with millions of fans, and announced the launch of the crypto exchage Websea.
Since then, almost all official promotional activities of Websea have been conducted by COOHerbert Sim, and no exact information can be found about other high-level information such as the founder and CEO of the team.
Herbert Sim currently has more than 400,000 X platform fans. His X platform introduction calls himself Bitcoin Man, but does not introduce his identity as Websea COO. He only forwards some Websea promotional information.
Herbert Sim's LinkedIn information shows that Herbert Sim has had more than 20 job experiences in 14 years since graduating from Oklahoma City University in the United States in 2010.
During this period, Herbert Sim worked at Huobi for 8 months from December 2017 to July 2018, and served as the global operations director of Huobi for 6 months; and later worked at the Russian cryptocurrency exchange Cryptology for 7 months as the chief executive. Marketing Officer.
Herbert Sim is also the founder of Crypto Chain University, a database that compiles blockchain and cryptocurrency research papers. In addition, he also serves as a consultant for many media or technology companies such as Forbes.
Launched in August 2023, Websea has positioned itself very broadly, not limited to exchanges, but a new formalized digital asset world for Generation Z.
Two months after the launch of the Websea exchange, Websea launched the platform currency WBS. Websea said that WBS can be used in the NFT market, Web3 games, and Web3 social networking of the Websea ecosystem.
In June this year, Websea also announced the incubation of the first farm-themed Web3 game Meta Heaven.
When it comes to attracting users, Websea also uses common customer acquisition methods in exchanges, namely the team-based incentive model and the rebate model. The team with the largest number of new members will receive a BTC purchase discount, and their spot handling fee rebates can be up to 45%. On July 26, Websea announced that the number of registered users exceeded 650,000.
