The Santiago-based exchange suspended all withdrawals and announced its permanent closure on September 3. This decision followed a forensic audit that uncovered a custody shortfall of more than $7 million in customer assets.
The shortfall affected several major tokens, including Bitcoin, Ether, XRP, and Polygon's POL. The audit revealed that these assets were moved to external addresses without proper authorization, creating a gap between internal records and on-chain data.
Prior to the shutdown, Orionx filed criminal complaints against co-founders Joaquín Díaz and Roberto Zibert, as well as other former employees. The allegations involve unauthorized transfers of customer funds that took place between 2018 and 2021.
The exchange has introduced a phased restitution plan, although it admitted that full recovery of funds cannot be guaranteed. There is currently no independent verification regarding the recoverability of the transferred assets.
Tether acted as the sole investor in the company's Series A funding round in June 2025. The collapse occurred approximately 15 months after this investment.
Chile's Financial Market Commission (CMF) stated on September 4 that the exchange's license application was rejected on June 19, 2026. The CMF noted that Orionx never operated under the country's Fintech Law and lacked formal supervision.
