BitMart founder Sheldon Lee has rejected calls for an audit of the exchange, stating that the Chinese X account that made the accusations—including frozen user funds and unpaid employee salaries for July—was hacked. The X account demanded that Lee disclose wallets, assets, liabilities, and available reserves for independent verification by August 19. Lee did not directly respond to the audit request, claiming that all evidence of the content on X has been collected and is "fabricated rumors," and that he plans to report it to the X platform and send a lawyer's letter. BitMart announced last month that it would cease operations on August 26, but many users have reported that withdrawals are still blocked.