Orionx, a Chilean crypto exchange backed by Tether, announced it is shutting down after discovering a multimillion-dollar custody issue. A forensic audit found that more than $7 million in custodial assets had moved to wallets the exchange did not manage.
The company said its sole priority is now returning as much customer assets as possible. Withdrawals have been temporarily suspended as part of the closure process.
Discovery and Investigation
During a compliance review in 2025 related to Chile's Fintech Law, Orionx brought in financial professionals to examine its operations. On August 27, chief operating officer Thomas Mac Millan detected a significant mismatch between balances recorded in the exchange's systems and assets held in its custody accounts.
An internal review was followed by an external forensic audit that compared company records with onchain data. The audit examined Bitcoin, Ether, XRP, and Polygon holdings and found that recorded balances exceeded actual custodial assets.
Criminal Complaint
Orionx filed a criminal complaint Wednesday against co-founders Roberto Zibert and Joaquín Díaz, both of whom allegedly had access to the company's crypto custody systems. According to the complaint, assets were transferred out of Orionx's custody between 2018 and 2021 to accounts on other crypto platforms.
The complaint alleges that a wallet associated with Díaz received more than $1.5 million across 14 transfers, while another wallet received 187 Ether, more than 4.1 million USDT, and 200,000 USDC from Orionx.
Zibert and Díaz denied the allegations, stating they never acted against customers' interests and that the cause of the asset shortfall remains unclear.
Background
Orionx was founded in Chile in 2017 and expanded from a retail crypto exchange into a platform offering crypto payment and financial services across Chile, Peru, Colombia, and Mexico. Tether led the exchange's Series A funding round in June 2025 as part of its effort to expand digital asset adoption in Latin America. The closure occurs just 15 months after that investment.
