OPNX exchange bids for crypto lender Hodlnaut in Singapore
Crypto lender Hodlnaut appears to have found a white knight investor to exit its bankruptcy proceedings. According to a Bloomberg report, OPNX exchange has made an offer to take over 75% of the company.
The deal would see a capital injection of nearly $30 million worth of FLEX tokens into Hodlnaut to partially cover creditors' payout and outstanding claims. According to CoinMarketCap, FLEX is trading at $7.16 as of this writing, bringing the capital injection to nearly $215 million. Hodlnaut's restructuring is being overseen by a Singapore court.
If approved by the creditors, OPNX would own 75% of Hodlnaut after the infusion of capital. Creditors would receive 30% of their claims in FLEX and other tokens, or a pro-rata payment of up to 95% of the available corporate asset pool, whichever is higher, according to documents seen by Bloomblerg.
FLEX token performance. Source: CoinMarketCap.FLEX is the native token of the CoinFLEX exchange, which was founded by Mark Lamb and Sudhu Arumugam, who were also co-founders of OPNX, a new marketplace for crypto claims trading. The platform is also powered by the FLEX token. Other co-founders of OPNX included Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, also founders of bankrupt hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC). Zhu and Davies are being chased by creditors in the United States over their dragging bankruptcy proceedings
It's unclear if the creditors will accept the deal. In April, the majority of Hodlnaut's creditors expressed their desire to liquidate the company. According to a letter from the interim judicial manager (IJM), users representing approximately 55.38% of creditors, with claims of 228.3 million Singapore dollars (about $170 million), have indicated they would favor liquidation over restructuring. At the time, no source of fresh capital had been found, the letter noted.
"We see a lot of potential in the Hodlnaut platform and look forward to working closer with them," Lam told Bloomberg in an email.
Hodlnaut halted withdrawals in August 2022 as a result of a liquidity crisis. Since then, it has been under judicial management, under Singaporean law, which temporarily shielded it from legal action. “We are aiming to avoid a forced liquidation of our assets as it […] will require us to sell our users’ cryptocurrencies such as BTC, ETH and WBTC at these current depressed asset prices,” the company said at the time.
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