According to CoinMeta, the founder of BitMart, Sheldon Lee, refuted the demands for an audit, claiming that some users were unable to withdraw their funds and that some employees had not received their salaries for July. Lee stated that the Chinese account of BitMart had been hacked and called on him and his business partner Yi Li to open their books to an independent institution, including wallets, assets, liabilities, and available reserves, setting a deadline of August 19th for a response. Last month, BitMart announced that it would cease operations, with August 26th being the last trading day. Many users reported that withdrawals were still blocked. In their response, Lee did not directly address these demands but mentioned the hacking incident, stating that they had collected evidence and would report it to the police. Regarding the unpaid employee salaries, Lee indicated that employee assets were not given priority over customer assets.