Despite the crypto markets turning into a green forest this Monday, the ghost of the prolonged crypto crash still haunts many. The $250 million held in crypto assets in Singapore-based crypto lending and trading platform Hodlnaut might be hard to get back, as the crypto firm announced today they are halting all transactions immediately.
Dear users, we regret to inform you that we will be halting withdrawals, token swaps and deposits immediately due to recent market conditions. We have also withdrawn our MAS licence application. Here is our full statement https://t.co/5KfHUBzWsn Our next update will be on 19 Aug.— Hodlnaut (@hodlnautdotcom) August 8, 2022
The executives of Hodlnaut also tried to calm their customers with words of reassurance: “We would like to reassure you that this difficult decision was taken for us to focus on stabilizing our liquidity and preserving assets, while we work to find the best way to protect our users’ long-term interests.” In spite of this, no date on when the operations would be resumed were given. However, the crypto lender promised to give the next update on August 19.
Breaking: Hodlnaut has paused withdrawals, deposits, and token swaps. The platform currently holds $250 million of customer assetsAnother One Bites the Dust in Singapore— Satoshi Stacker (@StackerSatoshi) August 8, 2022
The Singaporean authorities had lots of work to do in recent months, as the infamous Three Arrows Capital (3AC) crumbled to pieces and the founders fled their Singaporean office without second guessing. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has already issued a reprimand to Three Arrows Capital (3AC) for supposedly lying in their court testimonies.
As Hodlnaut halted all transactions today, citing “volatile market conditions” and liquidity issues, the same excuse was used by Celsius, Voyager Digital, and Vould, but the root of the problem is likely to be in Terra Kwon’s Terra Luna crash, which shredded both Terra (UST) and Terra (LUNA). According to the leaked court documents, Hodlnaut is an “institutional client” of Celsius, which also lost millions due to Do Kwon’s travesty of a stablecoin.
Ultimately, Three Arrows Capital (3AC) founders also fell for Terra Luna, as the founders Su Zhu and Kyle Davies admitted they had a personal relationship with Do Kwon, who promised them “big things.”
Terra Luna’s Insider Saw It Coming
Interestingly, one big man in the crypto jungle isn’t acting surprised by today’s developments at all. FatmanTerra, the self-proclaimed Terra Luna insider, was among the first ones to comment on the heated situation.
Less than two months ago, the crypto enthusiast posted a long case study into Hodlnaut, calling them out for lying and misleading their users. “I believe they have both lied to & misrepresented stablecoin staking risks to customers. These websites are not as trustworthy as you may think.”
However, the outcome for customers’ money is very unclear, as some bankrupt brothers of fate, like Celsius and Voyager, were able to pay back big chunks of their debts, while others are just gone with the wind. Ultimately, today FatmanTerra’s acquisition of dirty play by Hodlnaut turns out to be tangible.
One of my emails reaching out to the MAS about Hodlnaut in June. I didn't believe it was wise for Singaporean authorities to give Hodlnaut any semblance of legitimacy. No reply. A bit infuriating, and I feel like maybe if I pushed harder this could have been avoided or mitigated. pic.twitter.com/rCa1M0bJgm— FatMan (@FatManTerra) August 8, 2022
- Voyager Digital gets approval to pay back $270M of loans to creditors
- Celsius repays loans in an aggressive manner, then files for bankruptcy protection
- Three Arrows Capital (3AC) founders detained in Dubai while boarding a private jet to Switzerland
Why You Should Care
2022 has seen a vast number of crypto companies going bankrupt. The outcome of the bankruptcy process is important for prevention of such situations in the future as well as overall improvement of legal framework related to crypto.