Vauld Financial News

There is no deal (yet) in the acquisition talks between crypto lender Nexo and its rival Vauld, while the latter has less than a month to present a restructuring plan to creditors. That said, there is contradicting information coming from the two sides.

Troubled cryptocurrency lending platform Vauld’s parent Defi Payments has filed an application in a Singapore Court seeking a four-month extension of its moratorium till March 7, 2023.

Following its last hearing, cryptocurrency lending platform Vauld reached out to its customers seeking their interest to be a part of a proposed Committee of Creditors (CoC), to whom it owes money.

ED) said on Friday it has attached assets worth Rs 370 crore belonging to a Bengaluru-based company linked to the instant loan apps case. The assets were parked in bank accounts, payment gateway balances, and wallets on the Flipvolt crypto exchange. Flipvolt is the Indian arm of Singaporean crypto lender Vauld.

In another instance of never ending trouble for crypto lending platform Vauld, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday said that it is freezing bank balances, payment gateway balances and crypto balances of worth Rs 370 crore for allegedly assisting predatory lending apps under ED’s investigation at present.

In his third affidavit, Vauld co-founder and CEO Darshan Bhatija has disclosed the names of the top 20 creditors of the crypto firm. The first creditor has a sum of $33,937,958 outstanding with Vauld as of June 28, shows the affidavit which has been reviewed by Moneycontrol. 

A Singapore court on August 1, granted a three-month moratorium to cryptocurrency lending start-up Vauld till November 7, 2022. Following demand letters from a few creditors, the judge further gave a deadline of four weeks to the company to explore mechanisms for withdrawal for creditors in need.

Nexo is likely to acquire Singapore-headquartered crypto exchange firm Vauld, pending due diligence, as both the parties signed an indicative term sheet today. “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,” co-founder and CEODarshan Bathija wrote on microblogging platform Twitter on Tuesday.

Vauld has suspended all deposits and withdrawals. The decision comes amid a broader volatility in the cryptocurrency market and as the platform faces financial challenges. Vauld is looking at a potential restructuring. “This is due to a combination of circumstances such as the volatile market conditions, the financial difficulties of our key business partners inevitably affecting us, and the current market climate,” said chief executive officer (CEO) Darshan Bathija in a statement on the company’s website on Monday. “All this has led to a significant amount of customer withdrawals over $197.7 million since June 12, 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.”

Cryptocurrency lender Nexo plans to buy fellow lender Vauld, it said on Tuesday, the latest sign of consolidation in the digital currency industry as prices tumble.