Pionex Review 2026: Is It Safe? Proof of Reserves, the 2022 Deposit and Withdrawal Suspension, Regulatory Record, Fees and Sign-up

This review is based on Pionex’s official materials, regulators’ announcements and public records.

The short version: Pionex was founded in 2019 and is known for its built-in trading bots. Spot fees are 0.05% for both maker and taker, which is low among international exchanges. On safety, it publishes a Merkle tree proof of reserves, but the latest public third-party report dates from December 2022, when USDT on its own stood at only 90.02%. In March 2022 it suspended deposits and withdrawals after an attack, and it says users were fully compensated. Marketa Trading Inc., the entity serving pionex.com users, has not disclosed any formal licence, and the French AMF blacklisted pionex.com in April 2025. Under its terms, residents of the UK, the US, Hong Kong, Singapore and several other places cannot use it.

This article is a compilation of information. It is not investment, tax or legal advice. Fees, rates, licences and service regions can change; every figure here is as of the date given, so check Pionex’s official pages before you act. Crypto prices are volatile, and keeping assets on an exchange carries the risk of the exchange itself.

Pionex key factsData checked: 2026-10-08

As of 2026-10-08, Pionex's general-user spot taker fee is 0.05% and its futures taker fee is 0.05%; signing up with the invitation code gives a 15% trading fee discount.

Item	Details	Source
Jason Finance rating	34.1 / 100	rating method
Highlights	0.05% spot fee Reserves shown as wallet addresses
General-user fees (taker)	Spot 0.05%, futures 0.05%	2026-10-08
Invitation code fee discount	15% trading fee discount	2026-10-07
Proof of reserves	Not published	2026-10-08
Main licences and registrations	None found
USDT withdrawals	Cheapest Arbitrum 0.13 USDT; 6 common networks supported	2026-10-08

What kind of exchange is Pionex

The entity details come from the Pionex terms of service (effective 9 July 2024), the Pionex Inc. details come from the US state consent order covered below, and the size figures are a CoinGecko snapshot from that day. In CoinGecko’s Trust Score breakdown, the regulation component is only 15% because it found no regulatory authorisation for Pionex.

I did not find the names of Pionex’s principal executives in the terms of service.

Is Pionex safe

Proof of reserves: a Merkle tree, with the latest third-party report from 2022

A proof of reserves is an exchange publishing how much it holds in its wallets and comparing that with the total of all user balances. Pionex published a Merkle tree after FTX collapsed in November 2022, and its help centre says the Merkle tree data is updated weekly. Users can enter their account details on the proof of reserves page of the official site to confirm that their assets are included.

The third-party report Pionex has published is an agreed-upon procedures engagement by Elite Partners CPA with the assistance of Moore. The snapshot was taken at 14:00 (Hong Kong time) on 13 December 2022 and the report was signed on 19 January 2023 (official announcement, report PDF):

Stablecoins combined could exceed 100% because the BUSD surplus offset the USDT and USDC shortfalls. For someone holding USDT, this means that at the time Pionex did not hold enough USDT to cover all users’ USDT, and the gap was filled with other stablecoins.

That report is a snapshot from nearly four years ago, and I found no newer third-party report. When I wrote this, Pionex’s official proof of reserves page would not open, so I could not check the latest reserve ratios. Third-party sites currently show wallet balances: CoinMarketCap lists about US$131 million and CoinGecko about US$125 million (9 October 2026). These are totals of wallet addresses reported by the exchange, not reserve ratios measured against user liabilities. What a proof of reserves can and cannot prove, and how exchanges compare, are in the proof of reserves guide.

The March 2022 attack and suspension of deposits and withdrawals

On 6 March 2022, Wu Blockchain reported that Pionex had been attacked. Pionex posted a “temporary wallet maintenance” notice and suspended deposits and withdrawals. Pionex told Wu Blockchain that all affected users had been 100% compensated and that deposits and withdrawals would resume once fixes and upgrades were complete (per CoinCodeCap’s summary; the original Pionex notice could not be verified on an official page).

Pionex has not disclosed the amount stolen or explained how the attack worked. I found no later record of another hack or of a long withdrawal suspension.

Regulatory record and warnings

The table lists the regulatory actions, warning lists and service restrictions I found, in date order:

• The I-SCAN warning database of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) has two entries under the Pionex name, but the pages would not open, so the issuing authorities and content could not be verified on an official page.
• I found no sanctions reports or court rulings involving Pionex.

The US consent order came from a joint examination by the four states in November and December 2024, covering August 2022 to September 2024. The deficiencies in the report include:

• Transfers over US$3,000 without collecting sender and recipient information, in breach of the federal funds transfer rules.
• An information security programme, permissible investments, surety bond amounts, books and records, and periodic filings that did not meet state law requirements.
• Operating in North Carolina and Ohio before obtaining money transmitter licences there: 241 new depositing customers in North Carolina between May and August 2022, and at least 612 transactions totalling at least US$293,000 in Ohio.

Pionex Inc. paid a US$20,000 fine (US$10,000 each to North Carolina and Ohio), must submit a remediation report every quarter for two years, and did not admit wrongdoing. This is Pionex Inc., which serves US users, not the operator of pionex.com, but the two share the brand.

Account security settings

According to the Pionex help centre, an account can use:

• Passkeys: log in, approve withdrawals and change your password with face or fingerprint; biometric data stays only on your phone (official guide).
• Google Authenticator, plus email and SMS verification codes.
• Withdrawal whitelist: once on, withdrawals can go only to preset addresses, a newly added address can be used only after 24 hours, and internal transfers are also restricted (official guide).

I did not find instructions for an anti-phishing code in the help centre. Pionex also warns that its only official domain is www.pionex.com and that support never contacts users through Telegram, WhatsApp or LINE; its official channel verification tool lets you check whether someone is an impersonator.

Pionex licences and service regions

A FinCEN MSB is a “registration”, not a licence, and does not mean federal-level supervision; the state money transmitter licences are the ones that require review. For the 40 states, the FinCEN registration and the Hong Kong licence application, I found only 2023 media reports, and the current status could not be verified on an official page.

Regions that cannot use it: under the terms of service, nationals or residents of mainland China, Hong Kong, the United States, Singapore, Afghanistan, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, the United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands, Spain and France, and people on sanctions lists. The terms also say that when a country becomes restricted, Pionex may suspend accounts or block transactions without notice. Earn products have further regional limits: if you cannot see the Earn page, it is not available where you are (official guide).

Pionex trading bots: free to use, only trading fees on fills

Pionex is best known for its built-in trading bots: you set parameters such as a price range and an amount, and the bot places orders by those rules. According to the official fee overview:

• Spot grid, futures grid, DCA, rebalancing and similar bots charge no usage or subscription fee; only the regular trading fee applies when orders fill.
• A grid bot incurs a trading fee every time it triggers a buy or sell; the futures grid uses limit orders and pays the maker rate.
• The exception is futures bots such as Futures Moon: no fee while running, but 20% of total profit when you close, reduce the position or withdraw profit, and nothing if there is no profit.

A bot only automates order placement; it does not make the market move in your favour. When the price falls below its range, a grid keeps buying and ends up holding a losing position, and frequent fills add up in fees. The historical annualized returns shown on bot pages are past figures that do not indicate future performance and do not guarantee profit. Futures bots also carry leverage and liquidation risk. This site does not give bot settings or strategy advice.

How to sign up for Pionex

Create an account with an email address or phone number, enter the invitation code in the invitation code field, then complete identity verification (KYC). Pionex is an international exchange, so first make sure you are not in one of the restricted regions in the previous section.

According to the Pionex help centre, the fee discount from signing up with an invitation code is not deducted when you place an order. It is credited back to your account after the trade settles, updated every hour, and each entry can be found in the wallet records in the app. Sign up with the invitation code above to get a 15% fee discount. The discount rate that currently applies to your account is on the “Invitation code” page under your avatar at the top left of the app.

Pionex fees: 0.05% spot, 0.05% futures taker

According to the fee overview in the Pionex help centre (updated 5 August 2026):

• Stablecoin pairs such as USDC/USDT are also charged the 0.05% spot fee.
• Tokenized stocks and MEME Guru tokens cost more; Pionex says this covers on-chain network fees.
• Reaching a 30-day volume or asset threshold moves you up to a VIP tier with lower fees; see the official fee page for each tier’s thresholds.
• A maker places an order and waits for someone to fill it; a taker fills an order already on the book.
• For general-user fees at other international exchanges, see the international exchange fee comparison.

In money terms: a regular user who buys 1,000 USDT of BTC at market on spot pays a 0.05% fee of 0.5 USDT. With a 15% fee discount, 0.075 USDT is credited back after settlement, so the actual cost is 0.425 USDT.

Deposits and withdrawals: USDT supports BEP20, withdrawal fees vary by network

According to the deposit and withdrawal fee table in the help centre (updated 18 August 2026), the USDT figures for each network are:

• Withdrawal fees change with network conditions. The facts card above shows figures seen on the app’s withdrawal page on a different day, which do not fully match this table; the withdrawal page is what counts.
• A deposit below the minimum may not be credited. Both sides of a transfer must use the same network; picking the wrong one may mean the funds cannot be recovered.
• If you add a new address to the withdrawal whitelist, you have to wait 24 hours before withdrawing to it.

If a transfer is confirmed on-chain but the exchange has not credited it, see what to check in USDT deposit delayed: what to do.

Pionex Earn: flexible savings, arbitrage and staking

Flexible savings: redeem any time, interest calculated hourly

What Pionex says about its flexible product:

• No lock-up; the principal can be redeemed at any time.
• Earnings are calculated every hour and compounded automatically; you can also withdraw only the earnings and leave the principal.
• The annualized rate on the page is a floating real-time estimate, not a fixed rate, and Pionex does not publish the range it is calculated from.
• When a coin’s quota runs out it shows as “sold out”, and you have to wait for others to redeem before you can subscribe again.

Arbitrage products: spot hedged with perpetual futures, returns not guaranteed

Pionex’s arbitrage products buy spot and open an equal short position in perpetual futures within the same account as a hedge. Returns come mainly from perpetual futures funding rates, paid every 8 hours.

• The minimum is 10 USDT and there is no lock-up, but you cannot redeem within 15 minutes after each settlement.
• The annualized ranges Pionex lists are wide. The “Stable” product that all users can buy, for example, is 0.01% to 30%, and Pionex states that past performance does not guarantee future results.
• Some products set aside part of the returns for an insurance fund (10% for Stable, for example) to cushion periods of negative funding rates.
• When funding rates turn negative, returns fall and can become losses. Funds held in futures positions also carry the risk of Pionex itself.

ETH staking

Pionex’s ETH staking puts ETH into Lido and Curve. Pionex says it uses no leverage and can be redeemed at any time. This approach adds a layer of DeFi smart contract risk.

For how exchange earn products compare with short-term Treasury ETFs, Aave and Bitfinex lending, and what extra risk each one adds, see Where to park idle USD and USDT.

Pros and cons: who Pionex suits

How Jason Finance rates exchanges is explained in the exchange rating methodology; the overall approach to choosing an international exchange is in how to choose a crypto exchange. More exchange guides and comparisons are on the crypto topic page.

FAQ

Is Pionex safe?

Pionex publishes a Merkle tree proof of reserves, which its help centre says is updated weekly. In the third-party agreed-upon procedures report for 13 December 2022, BTC was at 117.60%, ETH at 110.00% and stablecoins combined at 103.69%, but USDT alone was at 90.02%. In March 2022 it suspended deposits and withdrawals after an attack, and it says affected users were fully compensated. Pionex has not disclosed which country's formal licence, if any, the entity serving pionex.com users holds, and the French AMF blacklisted pionex.com in April 2025.

What are Pionex's trading fees?

According to the fee overview in the Pionex help centre (updated 5 August 2026), spot is 0.05% for both maker and taker, futures are 0.02% maker and 0.05% taker, and leveraged tokens and tokenized stocks are 0.1%. Reaching a 30-day volume or asset threshold moves you up to a VIP tier with lower fees.

Do Pionex trading bots cost extra?

Mostly not. Pionex says grid, DCA, rebalancing and similar bots are free to use, and only the regular trading fee is charged when orders fill. The exception is futures bots such as Futures Moon: no fee while they run, but 20% of total profit is charged when you close, reduce the position or withdraw profit. A bot is only a tool that places orders automatically; it does not guarantee profit.

Which regions cannot use Pionex?

Under the pionex.com terms of service, nationals or residents of mainland China, Hong Kong, the United States, Singapore, Afghanistan, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, the United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands, Spain and France cannot use it, and neither can people on sanctions lists. US users are served by pionex.us, which a separate company, Pionex Inc., operates.

Has Pionex been sanctioned by regulators?

There are two records. On 10 April 2025 the French Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) added www.pionex.com to its crypto blacklist for providing financial services without authorisation. In May 2025 Pionex Inc. in the US signed a consent order with four states (Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio and South Dakota) and paid a US$20,000 fine over deficiencies including unlicensed money transmission. Pionex Inc. did not admit wrongdoing.

Can I redeem Pionex Flexible Earn at any time?

Pionex says the flexible product has no lock-up, the principal can be redeemed at any time, and earnings are calculated every hour and compounded automatically. The annualized rate shown is a floating real-time estimate, not a fixed rate. When a coin's quota runs out it shows as sold out, and you have to wait for others to redeem before you can subscribe again. Earn products are not available in every region.