Crypto Lender Hodlnaut Suspends Services

Singapore-based crypto lender Hodlnaut has paused all withdrawals, deposits, and token swap on its platform due to an apparent liquidity crisis, the company said in a press release on 8 August.

According to the announcement, Hodlnaut made the decision to pause deposits and withdrawals — which it claims was caused by the “recent market conditions” — in order to “focus on stabilising” its liquidity and preserve its assets. The company also noted that it had withdrawn its regulatory license application with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), which meant it could not longer provide its token swap services. The company’s announcement reads:

“We are actively working on the recovery plan that we hope to provide updates and details on as soon as permissible. We are consulting with Damodara Ong LLC on the feasibility and timelines of our intended execution plan and are strategizing our recovery plan with our users’ best interests in mind.”

Hodlnaut added that it will continue to pay out interest to its customers until further notice, so that it can “balance the need to be fair to users and minimise our liabilities”. The crypto lender also noted that it will be suspending all of its social media accounts, with the exception of Twitter and Telegram, with founder Juntao Zhu making his Twitter private shortly after the announcement.

Back in June, the crypto lender revealed that it had managed to avoid any exposure to the Three Arrow Capital (3AC), the bankruptcy of which was a key component to the current crypto market conditions. A report from June suggested that the company had a large exposure to the now collapsed UST stablecoin, though Zhu claimed in July that Hodlnaut had neither bought UST nor incurred any losses on its yield service.