Distressed Vauld likely to be acquired by crypto lender Nexo

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A day after it suspended operations, crypto platform Vauld on July 5 said it signed an indicative term sheet with crypto lender Nexo which would acquire the Singapore-headquartered cryptocurrency exchange.

Announcing on Twitter, Vauld’s co-founder and CEO Darshan Bhatija said, “I understand that a lot of our customers are nervous about your funds. We are working tirelessly to ensure your financials are protected. To that end, we've signed an indicative term sheet with @Nexo to acquire up to 100% of Vauld.”

“The completion of this transaction is pending due diligence—which both teams are working on as we speak. Vauld has strived to deliver long term value to all customers, and we believe coming under the @Nexo umbrella will significantly help achieve this.”

I understand that a lot of our customers are nervous about your funds. We are working tirelessly to ensure your financials are protected. To that end, we've signed an indicative term sheet with @Nexo to acquire up to 100% of Vauld: https://t.co/HrnQO7J64f

— Darshan Bathija (@darshanbathija) July 5, 2022

The development was first reported by The Block.

Nexo's co-founder Antoni Trenchev told the publication that the term sheet will provide the London-based firm a 60-day exclusive exploratory period wherein it will conduct the due diligence process. Nexo will be looking at restructuring Vauld or provide immediate liquidity based on Vauld's assets.

On July 4, Bhatija said in a blogpost that the company had suspended all withdrawals, trading and deposits on its platform with immediate effect.

The platform saw customer withdrawals in excess of $197.7 million since June 12, 2022 when the decline of the cryptocurrency market excerbated following the collapse of Terraform Lab’s UST stablecoin, Celsius network pausing withdrawals and Three Arrows Capital defaulting on loans.

Vauld, founded in 2018 by Darshan Bathija and Sanju Kurian, helped crypto investors earn and borrow crypto, including borrowing against your own assets and having no cap on daily withdrawals.

The firm is backed by marquee investors including Coinbase Ventures, PayPal co-founder and billionaire investor Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures, CMT Digital,  Gumi Cryptos, Robert Leshner and Cadenza Capital.