Singapore
Troubled crypto lender Vauld gets extended creditor protection
Embattled crypto lending platform Vauld one more time gets the period of creditor protection from a Singapore court. The company should come up with a revival plan before Feb. 28. As reported by Bloomberg on Jan. 17, Vauld has been granted more than a month to close its negotiations with one of two digital-asset fund managers to take over the executive control of the tokens stuck on its platform. Apparently, the Singapore high court was satisfied by the company’s claim that the negotiations have entered to the “advanced stage.” In July 2022 the platform halted the withdrawals for its 800,000 customers, citing unfavorable market conditions and an unprecedented $200 million worth of withdrawals in under two weeks. In August, it has already been granted a three-month moratorium to come ...
Three Arrows Capital founders subpoenaed on Twitter
Three Arrows Capital (3AC) founders Zhu Su and Kyle Davies were subpoenaed on Twitter on Jan. 5, after the liquidators granted permission from Singapore authorities following a United States bankruptcy court order, according to information given to Cointelegraph by advisory firm Teneo. In the case of Davies, the Southern District of New York Bankruptcy Court granted the subpoena order as he is a U.S. citizen, while the Singapore courts granted the order to both co-founders, explained a spokesperson from Teneo. As reported by Cointelegraph, liquidators’ lawyers have repeatedly failed to engage with the founders in recent months. “A communication protocol was agreed between the liquidators and founders but has not yielded satisfactory cooperation,” according to a hearing presenta...
Crypto hotspots continue to thrive despite FTX collapse
The sudden failure of FTX has left many people questioning the impact this will have on the cryptocurrency ecosystem. For instance, it remains questionable whether or not crypto hotspots will continue to flourish or if there will be a decline in innovation. While it may be too soon to fully understand the impact of the FTX collapse, industry leaders within crypto-friendly geographies believe that the FTX failure will not hamper innovation. For example, Dubai — which has been dubbed as one of the most innovative regions for crypto and blockchain development — continues to see ecosystem activity. Most recently, The Algorand Foundation, the organization driving the growth of the Alogrand blockchain, hosted its second annual Decipher conference in Dubai. The event took place Nov. 29–30, ...
Amber Group ditches expansion plans after denying insolvency: Report
Cryptocurrency trading firm Amber Group is putting its expansion plans on hold despite the FTX contagion having “no disruption” to its daily operations, according to a senior executive. Amber has scrapped plans to expand in Europe and the United States as a consequence of exposure to the now-defunct exchange FTX and will focus on institutional clients in Asia, according to managing partner Annabelle Huang. Huang also said that Amber has been forced to deprioritize its new metaverse project due the FTX contagion, the Financial Times reported on Dec. 9. Apart from ditching its expansion plans, the firm has reportedly been cutting its headcount recently. After reportedly laying off up to 40% of staff in September, the firm continued to lay off employees again in December. According to Huang, ...
Legal team for 3AC liquidators blast founders for shifting blame to FTX, media blitz amid bankruptcy
The founders of Three Arrows Capital, or 3AC, the Singapore-based crypto hedge fund with close ties to Terra Labs, have been spending more time engaging on social media and news outlets than dealing with its own liquidation, according to bankruptcy lawyers. In a Dec. 2 hearing in the United States Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York, lawyers for 3AC’s liquidators cited founders Zhu Su and Kylie Davies for being “active and responsive to comments via Twitter” but “repeatedly fail[ing] to engage” with liquidators to discuss the company’s assets and related issues. According to the legal team, Zhu and Davies have only had “limited discussions” with liquidators in addition to changing jurisdictions often — reportedly traveling to Bali and the United Arab Emirates. Adam Goldbe...
Thai VC fund acquires troubled exchange Zipmex for $100M: Report
After weeks of negotiations on a potential buyout of Zipmex, venture capital fund V Ventures has reportedly reached a deal to acquire the embattled cryptocurrency exchange. V Ventures, a subsidiary of Thoresen Thai Agencies (TTA) public company, is looking to purchase a 90% stake in Zipmex crypto exchange, Bloomberg reported on Dec. 2. The VC fund is about to acquire Zipmex for about $100 million in digital assets and cash, anonymous sources familiar with the matter claimed. Citing a court hearing on Friday in Singapore, the report says that Zipmex was offered $30 million in cash and the rest in crypto. According to the court hearing, Zipmex is planning to use cryptocurrency assets received from the transaction to unlock frozen customer accounts on the exchange by April 2023. The acquisiti...
Crypto lender Matrixport seeks $100M funding despite lending crisis
Matrixport, the cryptocurrency firm founded by Bitmain co-founder Wu Jihan, is in the process of raising $100 million in funding despite the ongoing crypto market crisis. Lead investors have already committed $50 million for Matrixport’s new funding round at a $1.5 billion valuation, Bloomberg reported on Nov. 25. The deal has yet to be finalized as Matrixport is still looking for investors for the other half of the round. We’re excited and look forward to engaging with participants, on similar terms, in the other half of the #funding round. Appreciate the trust and confidence our investors continue have in Team #Matrixport.@business https://t.co/DqQhsYucUy — Matrixport (@realMatrixport) November 25, 2022 According to the company, the new round is part of Matrixport’s usual funding a...
Crypto lender Matrixport seeks $100M funding despite lending crisis
Matrixport, the cryptocurrency firm founded by Bitmain co-founder Wu Jihan, is in the process of raising $100 million in funding despite the ongoing crypto market crisis. Lead investors have already committed $50 million for Matrixport’s new funding round at a $1.5 billion valuation, Bloomberg reported on Nov. 25. The deal has yet to be finalized as Matrixport is still looking for investors for the other half of the round. We’re excited and look forward to engaging with participants, on similar terms, in the other half of the #funding round. Appreciate the trust and confidence our investors continue have in Team #Matrixport.@business https://t.co/DqQhsYucUy — Matrixport (@realMatrixport) November 25, 2022 According to the company, the new round is part of Matrixport’s usual funding a...
Singapore police warn investors against FTX phishing scams: Report
The Singapore Police Force has warned investors to be weary of fake websites claiming they can help them recover funds from the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX. On Nov. 19, the police issued a warning about a website claiming to be hosted by the United States Department of Justice that prompts FTX users to log in with their account credentials, local news agency Channel News Asia reported. The website, which was not identified, targets local investors affected by the FTX collapse, claiming that customers “would be able to withdraw their funds after paying legal fees.” The police said the website was a phishing scam designed to fool unsuspecting users into giving away their private information. Local authorities have also warned against fake online articles that promote crypt...
Singapore bank DBS uses DeFi to trade FX and state securities
DBS Bank, a major financial services group in Asia, is applying decentralized finance (DeFi) for a project backed by Singapore’s central bank. DBS has started a trading test of foreign exchange (FX) and government securities using permissioned, or private, DeFi liquidity pools, the firm announced on Nov. 2. The development is part of Project Guardian, a collaborative cross-industry effort pioneered by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). Conducted on a public blockchain, the trade included the purchase and sale of tokenized Singapore government securities (SGS), the Singapore dollar (SGD), Japanese government bonds and the Japanese yen (JPY). The project has shown that trading on a private DeFi protocol enables simultaneous operations of instant trading, settlement, clearing and cust...
Singapore’s MAS says no urgent case for retail CBDC, but launches 4 fast trials of it
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has wrapped up the first stage of its Project Orchid examination of a retail central bank digital currency (CBDC). According to the white paper released on Oct. 31, there is no “urgent case” for a retail CBDC in Singapore, but the study envisioned the infrastructure required in case a need arose. It also conceptualized a new model for digital currency — purpose-bound money — and pulled large Singaporean banks and government agencies into the research with a series of trials. Singaporean consumers do not need a retail digital dollar at present because of the high quality of services already available, the authors wrote. They indicated, however, that the most foreseeable use case may be for the benefit of the MAS rather than users: “Electro...
Stablecoins have a new name in Great Britain: Law Decoded, Oct. 24–31
The first full week under the leadership of the newly-elected Prime Minister Rishi Sunak saw a major landmark for crypto regulation in the United Kingdom. The Financial Services and Markets Bill, made public on Oct. 25, aims to enhance the U.K.’s position as a “global leader in financial services” — but what is more important is that it contains some new definitions for crypto products. The bill moves stablecoins from the category of crypto assets to digital settlement assets (DSA) — a new category marked by its potential “to develop into a widespread means of payment.” It’s yet to be seen what regulations the DSA will be subject to and if this change of status will guarantee them a green light for adoption. But, even that scope of change brings optimism. It seems we may witness unpr...
