Phemex Exchange Review: OG Score & Community Audit

Phemex is a Singapore-founded exchange focused on perpetual futures, with spot trading, copy trading and trading bots. In January 2025, attackers took an estimated $69-85 million from its hot wallets and Phemex said it would cover user losses.

Platform Background & Leadership

Phemex was founded in November 2019 in Singapore by Jack Tao, a former Morgan Stanley executive and Stella Chan; Federico Variola is CEO. Phemex says it has more than 10 million users. It holds an MSB registration with FinCEN in the US and a VASP registration in Lithuania; these are registrations, not a MiCA authorization. In 2026, it added USDT perpetual futures on tokenized TradFi assets, such as stocks and precious metals.

Phemex Security Track Record

On January 23, 2025, hackers suspected to be linked to North Korea breached Phemex hot wallets on 16 blockchains. Estimates of the loss range from about $69 million to $85 million (TheBlock: Phemex Hack). Phemex paused withdrawals, said its cold storage was safe and said it would cover all user losses.

Phemex publishes monthly Proof of Reserves updates. Its Trustpilot page includes reports of withdrawal freezes and bonus disputes and several OG reviewers have flagged account freezes after high-profit trades (ForkLog: Phemex 2026 Review).

Based on 5 community reviews, Phemex sits at an OG Score of 24.8. Reviewers mention its derivatives tools and futures fees, while the 2025 hack and complaints about withdrawal freezes are the main concerns.

Phemex Fees & Fee Structure

Phemex spot fees are 0.10% maker and 0.10% taker and contract fees are 0.01% maker and 0.06% taker. The PT token gives further discounts. Withdrawal fees vary by chain and can reduce savings for users who withdraw often.

Phemex Staking & Earn Products

Phemex Earn offers flexible savings plus limited-time, high-yield promotions with small capacity that fill quickly. Promoted rates of up to 15% APY usually last only a short time and a Learn & Earn program rewards users for completing lessons.

Trading Experience & Platform Features

Derivatives are Phemex's main focus. In March 2026, Phemex said an upgrade to its futures engine raised capacity from about 25,000 to about 40,000 transactions per second and cut funding settlement time from 10 seconds to 500 milliseconds; these are company figures, not independent tests. Products include spot, perpetual futures (up to 100x), copy trading, trading bots and TradFi futures.

Phemex FAQ

Has Phemex been hacked? Yes. In January 2025, attackers took an estimated $69-85 million from Phemex hot wallets. Phemex said its cold storage was safe and that it would cover user losses.

Is Phemex licensed in the EU? Phemex holds a VASP registration in Lithuania, which is a national registration, not a MiCA authorization. EU users can check ESMA's register of MiCA service providers for the current status.

What can you trade on Phemex? Phemex offers spot trading, perpetual futures with up to 100x leverage, copy trading, trading bots and USDT perpetuals on tokenized stocks and precious metals.

To bring you this Phemex breakdown, we reviewed public sources like the Phemex Official Website, Phemex X (Twitter) Account,. We provide these insights strictly for education and research, not as professional trading advice. If something looks incorrect or out of date, drop us a line through our contact form.