Vauld halts crypto withdrawals, citing market conditions

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Crypto trading and lending platform Vauld on July 4 announced that it was suspending withdrawals, trading, and deposits on its platform, due to the financial challenges it was facing on account of volatile market conditions and financial difficulties of its business partners.

Ironically, the Singapore-based firm, with most of its employees in India, had asserted a couple of weeks back that it did not have any exposure to Celsius or Three Arrows Capital and that it remained liquid despite market conditions.

The firm had assured investors that all withdrawals will continue to be processed in the future.

A statement by Vauld CEO Darshan Bathija on Monday said the financial difficulties of its key business partners affected Vauld and that customers have withdrawn over $197.7 million since June 12, 2022, when the decline of the cryptocurrency market was triggered by the collapse of Terraform Lab’s UST stablecoin, Celsius network, pausing withdrawals, and Three Arrows Capital defaulting on their loans.

Bathija said Vauld was open to potential options such as restructuring, and, for this purpose, it has hired Kroll Pte Limited as its financial advisor, as well as Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas and Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP as the company’s legal advisors in India and Singapore, respectively.

“We intend to apply to the Singapore courts for a moratorium, i.e., a suspension of the commencement or continuation of any proceedings against the relevant companies so as to give us breathing space to carry out the proposed restructuring exercise,” Bathija said.