Crypto Lender Hodlnaut Granted Judicial Management to Organize Restructure

Singapore-based crypto lender Hodlnaut has been granted judicial management by the Singapore High Courts today. 

Interim managers Angela Ee and Aaron Loh of EY Corporate Advisors Pte. have been appointed as Hodlnaut’s interim managers, according to the official statement.

Hodlnaut stated in its official Telegram channel that it is not providing any additional details nor has any fixed date for further updates. 

The firm first filed for judicial management on August 13 as it sought temporary protection from any legal claims. The application also meant third-party interim managers would join to restructure the company’s operations. This also avoided liquidating crypto holdings such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) at a hefty loss. 

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Last week, Hodlnaut cut 80% of its staff to save money. More notable, however, were the pending proceedings with the Singapore police and Attorney General, with the crypto lender saying that “these actions are taken in what we believe to be in the best interests of our users.”   

Judicial management comes just three weeks after Hodlnaut froze withdrawals, deposits, and token swaps to “give us [Hodlnaut] the time to work closely with our legal advisors to come up with the best possible restructuring and recovery plan for our users,” according to the August 8 announcement.

Hodlnaut was launched in 2019, offering investors up to 7.25% interest on their idle token holdings.

Singapore to the rescue 

General market trends and falling crypto firms have given Singapore a lot to think about in terms of consumer protection and industry regulation.

Last week, the Singapore High Courts deemed that liquidation agency Teneo could access additional financial documents of the crypto fund Three Arrows Capital.

With lawmakers and advisors searching for answers, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the city-state’s central bank and financial regulator, yesterday laid out potential guidelines to prevent frivolous investments and protect investors.

These protections would likely include a limitation of personal credit lending and customer suitability tests, assessing how to “mitigate consumer harm,” according to the announcement.