People in the Handshake Telegram keep asking a chat admin to contact MEXC and get the ST tag taken off HNS. That request assumes someone in the chat speaks for Handshake. Nobody does. Handshake has no company, no foundation, and no listing officer. A moderator can pin a message. MEXC's removal process is written for a project team, and this chain does not have one.
This note is the situation, the published process, and a public call for MEXC to support a decentralized community. It is not investment advice, and it is not a promise about what the exchange will do next.
ST is a warning, not a delisting
ST comes from the equity-market label "Special Treatment": a listed asset that failed the venue's health checks. On MEXC, a pair that trips the rules is tagged and watched. If MEXC decides the risk to users is severe, they delist it three days after the tag, trading stops, and withdrawals stay open for 30 days. After that, coins left on the exchange are the holder's problem. Deposits for an ST token are already blocked.
MEXC's own pages:
- February 2026 ST announcement, which lists HNS
- ST Warning Rules, page dated 21 May 2025
- What is an ST tag?, 21 September 2026
Where HNS sits
The February announcement puts HNS in that month's list: ST time 2026-02-24 (UTC+8), estimated delisting TBC. Almost everything else in that list was given a date about three days out. TBC means MEXC flagged the pair and did not start the clock.
Checked again on 11 October 2026, that same row is still there. The October 2026 ST announcement only lists newly tagged tokens. HNS is not in it. The February tag is the one that still applies.
As of 1–4 October 2026, HNS was still trading on MEXC, deposits were already off, and support replies were the standard template. Those replies point at the February announcement and the ST rules. They do not say which rule HNS failed. Support also told a user that deposits stay unavailable while the warning is on.
The Handshake chain is a separate fact. On 4 October 2026 it was around block 349,900, with on the order of 13 million names and auctions, registrations, and renewals still running. An exchange tag does not stop the chain.
The same shape of problem showed up when CoinEx closed. That was an exchange event, not a protocol event. The write-up is Why HNS just dumped: CoinEx is closing.
What MEXC's rules actually test
MEXC does not name the trigger for a specific coin. These are the published tests the public numbers fit.
Price. "Extreme price declines relative to the initial listing price or the all-time high." CoinMarketCap records an all-time high of $0.8528 on 5 May 2021. In early October 2026, HNS was trading around half a cent to a cent on a thin MEXC book, about 99% under that high.
Balances and liquidity on MEXC, not on the chain. The rules also flag fewer than 100 MEXC users holding more than $5, holder balances averaging under 50,000 USDT for 30 straight days, an average daily spread wider than 2% for 15 days, a 15-day price gap versus other centralized exchanges above 15%, and extreme volatility. MEXC's holder counts are not public, so those lines are the shape of the test, not a confirmed score.
The team checklist does not match this chain. The same rules flag an inactive website or social accounts, a team at risk of disbanding, insolvency, and "lack of on-chain maintenance resulting in transaction failures." Handshake is still producing blocks. What their form calls "the project stopped" is, here, "there was never a foundation." The rubric has no box for a proof-of-work chain run by miners and open-source developers.
The removal path, and why a Telegram message is not on it
MEXC does not publish a fee to take an ST tag off. Anyone who DMs offering to lift it for a payment should be treated as a scam. The channels they name are in-app support and their official Telegram.
The path in their explainer is:
- The project team fixes the project.
- The token meets at least four evaluation criteria.
- The price is "close to its initial listing price."
- A three-day observation period follows.
- MEXC may then lift the tag.
Their rules also say a second ST trigger can be an immediate delisting with no notice.
That "project team" step is the whole problem. A chat admin cannot sign it. Posting on X does not map to any criterion they list. A community that wanted to chase the numeric tests would be funding real balances, real holders, and tighter spreads. That is a treasury decision. It still leaves MEXC free to say the price is nowhere near the listing price, and free to delist on a second trigger. It does not create the team their form is written for.
There is no public invoice, and nothing in the February announcement, showing that MEXC asked Handshake for a payment. The cure they do describe still costs money, because liquidity costs money. A headless project has no one assigned to fund it.
A call for MEXC to support this decentralized community
MEXC already lists HNS. This community is asking the exchange to keep a workable path for a chain that was built without a company.
Handshake is a proof-of-work naming protocol. Miners produce blocks. Open-source developers maintain the software. Name owners renew names. There is no foundation, no CEO, and no listing officer who can file the "project team" rectification in the ST process. A Telegram admin keeps a chat readable. That role cannot sign the form, and it should not be treated as if it can.
We are asking MEXC for four things, on the record, through the channels they already name:
- Say which published rule HNS failed. The February notice tags the pair and leaves delisting as TBC. Support replies so far point at the template. The community cannot answer a test it has not been told it failed.
- Judge on-chain maintenance by the chain. As of 4 October 2026 Handshake was around block 349,900, with auctions, registrations, and renewals still running. "The project stopped" does not describe that. "There was never a company" does.
- Keep withdrawals available while the tag is on, and say what would have to change before deposits reopen. Holders need a written status, not a rumor in chat.
- Say whether a headless chain can pass the removal review at all. If only a company can clear the tag, the community should hear that from MEXC.
This is not a request to waive the liquidity rules, and it is not a request for a paid exception. MEXC publishes no fee to remove an ST tag.
The people who use Handshake would like MEXC to keep a native HNS market that a decentralized community can actually use. The chain will keep producing blocks either way.
What holders can do
Coins already on MEXC can still be sold or withdrawn. They are not a deposit address. Do not send HNS in while the tag is on. After a real delisting, MEXC says deposits are returned to the source address, minus chain fees. If that source is another exchange, recovery depends on that exchange.
If MEXC sets a delisting date, the written window is 30 days of withdrawals. Withdrawing to a wallet you control, while withdrawals still work, keeps the coin. Selling into a thin book is how the February scare traded: people hitting the bid because of the tag.
If MEXC decides on-chain maintenance has stopped, their notice says they may convert leftover balances to USDT at the delisting price. Handshake is still producing blocks, so the realistic failure mode is a closed withdrawal window and coins stuck on the exchange.
Your name, your TLD, and resolution do not run through MEXC. The protocol does not depend on this market.
Check the exchange's own deposit page and announcements before you act on a screenshot from chat. This note records what those pages said on 11 October 2026, plus the 4 October check of trading and deposits.
A community note for the Handshake Telegram. Written so a chat admin has one link to share. The person pasting it is not a Handshake foundation, because Handshake does not have one.