User Protection

MEXC has added another 1,000 BTC to its Guardian Fund, the exchange’s publicly disclosed user-protection reserve, bringing total holdings to 2,000 BTC alongside 100 million USDT. The move matters to institutional investors because it signals exchanges are now competing on balance-sheet depth and on-chain verifiability of reserves, not just on fee structures or listings.

• MEXC added 1,000 BTC to its Guardian Fund on Thursday, October 1, 2026, its second Bitcoin allocation to the fund this year.
• The fund now holds 2,000 BTC plus 100 million USDT, up from an all-stablecoin launch of $100 million in June 2025.
• MEXC is targeting $500 million in total fund size within two years of a May 2026 commitment to expand the reserve.

• 2,000 BTC Guardian Fund’s current Bitcoin holdings, double May’s 1,000 BTC total
• $500M two-year fund target, five times its $100M June 2025 launch size
• 100M USDT stablecoin reserve held alongside the fund’s Bitcoin

MEXC disclosed the new allocation through publicly disclosed wallet addresses that allow independent verification of the fund’s holdings. The second Bitcoin allocation sits at a distinct address, separate from the wallet that received the first 1,000 BTC in May. The USDT portion of the reserve remains trackable on Etherscan.

MEXC Doubles Bitcoin Reserves to 2,000 BTC

MEXC’s Guardian Fund began as a $100 million reserve held entirely in USDT. In May 2026 the exchange committed to grow the fund fivefold, to $500 million over two years, and added its first 1,000 BTC alongside the existing stablecoin base.

Thursday’s addition doubles that Bitcoin position to 2,000 BTC. MEXC’s chief executive framed the move as part of an ongoing process rather than a one-time milestone.

Security and user protection is not a one-time investment. It is a continuous commitment. The risks facing digital asset platforms continue to evolve, and the resources behind user protection need to evolve with them. Adding another 1,000 BTC to the Guardian Fund reflects our long-term approach to building stronger protection for users and ensuring that the infrastructure behind that protection continues to grow with MEXC.

Vugar Usi, CEO of MEXC

Guardian Fund’s Model Breaks From Third-Party Insurance

The structural difference from conventional exchange insurance is the publicly traceable wallet model. Every MEXC-held BTC and USDT address tied to the fund is disclosed, letting users independently verify balances and transaction history on-chain rather than relying on an auditor’s attestation after the fact.

That transparency matters against a backdrop of recent exchange failures. MEXC’s publicly disclosed addresses are meant to let users check reserve adequacy before an incident occurs, rather than after.

What the disclosures do not specify is how compensation is triggered or capped per incident, or whether the Bitcoin component can be liquidated quickly enough to match the fund’s own “instant coverage” claim during a market stress event. MEXC has not published a claims policy alongside the wallet addresses.

MEXC Still Needs $400 Million More to Hit Its Target

At 2,000 BTC plus 100 million USDT, the Guardian Fund sits well below the $500 million target MEXC set for itself in May 2026, roughly 19 months from today’s deadline window. The exchange has not disclosed a pace for further allocations or whether future additions will again be Bitcoin-denominated.

The approach of building reserves through direct asset purchases, rather than pooled insurance, echoes a broader pattern of crypto-native firms holding Bitcoin on their own books, a strategy also visible in corporate treasuries such as Strategy’s bitcoin purchases. For MEXC, the open question is whether exchange-held reserves earmarked for user compensation should be treated differently from a corporate treasury position.

The CCS read. We read this less as a security headline and more as a balance-sheet signal. Exchanges that disclose wallet-level reserves are effectively competing with licensed custodians on verifiability, and MEXC’s bet is that users will choose venues where compensation capacity is checkable in real time rather than promised in a terms-of-service clause.

MEXC has not set a date for its next allocation toward the $500 million target, nor published the claims criteria that would govern how the Bitcoin portion gets deployed during an actual incident. Users and counterparties tracking the fund can watch the disclosed wallet addresses directly for the next move.