Chilean cryptocurrency platform OrionX asked Santiago's 15th Civil Court this Wednesday to declare its voluntary liquidation, according to La Tercera. In its filing, the company reported liabilities of $19,129,588,316, nearly $20 billion.
Liquidation is the term Chilean law uses for bankruptcy. A court appoints a liquidator, who sells what remains of the company and distributes the proceeds among those it owes money to.
OrionX operated as an exchange, meaning a platform for buying, selling and exchanging cryptocurrencies. It resembles a digital currency exchange office, but with a key difference: it held its customers' crypto assets in its own custody.
That is precisely where the problem arose. According to La Tercera, an independent forensic audit concluded in April 2026 that the crypto assets OrionX actually had available were less than the balances recorded in its customers' names. The shortfall totaled US$6,982,643.19 across four currencies: Bitcoin, Ether, XRP and Polygon.
According to the court filing, the audit identified transfers to external wallets that did not belong to the company. Those transactions were allegedly carried out with the knowledge and participation of two founding partners responsible for custody. It also detected transactions without adequate internal records and assets allegedly used for trading, meaning buying and selling for investment purposes, on other platforms.
One day before freezing its operations, OrionX filed a report with the Public Prosecutor's Office and a criminal complaint alleging disloyal administration. The action targets Joaquín Díaz, former chief technology officer, and Roberto Zibert, former general manager. The source does not include either man's response to the criminal complaint.
The company said the first warning signs appeared in August 2025. New management was reviewing its systems at the time to comply with the Fintech Law, which regulates financial technology companies in Chile. The board created a special committee and commissioned the audit.
The preliminary report, issued in November 2025, estimated a shortfall of around US$13 million. Those previously responsible for technology challenged those findings and provided information to explain the discrepancies. The final report reduced the figure to nearly US$7 million.
For customers, the situation is difficult. On September 3, OrionX announced it was shutting down operations and temporarily suspended withdrawals, a measure popularly known as a withdrawal freeze. If you had a balance on the platform, in pesos or cryptocurrencies, you became a creditor. According to the filing, that shortfall remains unresolved.
The court filing identifies the largest holders of crypto assets and peso balances for the purpose of nominating the liquidator. Trade creditors include Sumsub, for identity verification; Fireblocks, for custody infrastructure; and Amazon Web Services, for cloud services. The source does not specify how much users might recover.
The next step rests with Santiago's 15th Civil Court. If it grants the request, it will appoint a liquidator to inventory the assets and begin paying creditors.
