Vauld, a Singapore-based cryptocurrency lending and exchange platform, owes a total of $402 million to its creditors, as reported by The block.
Of that amount, $363 million, or about 90%, was reportedly put in by individual retail investors, according to a document filed in Singapore’s High Court on July 8 by Vauld CEO Darshan Bathija and shared with the firm’s clients in a July 18 email.
Vauld’s largest individual retail creditor was reportedly owed $34 million.
The firm also owes a total of $125 million to its 20 largest unsecured creditors, as well as $35 million to an unnamed secured creditor.
Another secured creditor is FTXTrading Ltd – the crypto exchange founded by Sam Bankman-Fried – who is owed $4.1 million.
Per court documents, affidavit, Vauld has $287.7 million in various coins, incl Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP. The firm’s actual total assets are worth about $330 million, as the statement does not include bank balances. This means a deficit of around 70 million dollars, revealed by the firm in a separate report.
Vauld seeks investor protection
Vauld, which is backed by several notable investors including Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures, Pantera Capital and Coinbase Ventures, halted operations on July 4 citing financial difficulties amid volatile market conditions.
In a blog post last week, the firm also revealed it was seeking protection from creditors and lawsuits in a Singapore court, which should provide the “breathing space” required to prepare for the proposed restructuring.
A Singaporean moratorium order is “generally similar to Chapter 11 bankruptcy” in the US bankruptcy code, as it allows the company to avoid a complete shutdown of operations and liquidation of assets while it tries to “reach an agreement or settlement with its creditors, seek new sources of financing or restructure its business , said Yuankai Lin, a partner at RPC Premier Law. The Wall Street Journal.
Meanwhile, Vauld continues to have discussions with crypto lending company Nexo, which earlier this month announced its intention to acquire the company pending a 60-day due diligence window.
“Our most important task now is to verify whether a Nexo-led overhaul can see the firm thrive again and whether it can be profitable within our business model and corporate culture,” said Antoni Trenchev, Nexo’s managing partner. Decrypt at the time.
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