Singapore Crypto Lender Hodlnaut Halts Withdrawals

Singapore’s white-collar fraud branch is scrutinizing Hodlnaut, a domestic cryptocurrency lender under judicial security from creditors, on charges of fraud, based on a statement on the webpage published Nov. 23,by the Singapore police.

The police Commercial Affairs Department that tackles white-collar fraud stated they obtained various allegations between August and November suggesting Hodlnaut and/or its management had made fake declarations pertaining to the company’s connection to an unidentified virtual token.

The authorities initiated an inquiry against Holdnaut and its management for alleged deceiving and fraud charges under Sections 417 and 424A of the Penal Code 1871, per the notice.

Those who invested digital tokens with Hodlnaut and feel they may have been scammed via misleading promises by the firm may submit police complaints accompanied by documentation proof.
Hodlnaut banned withdrawals, crypto token exchanges and deposits in August as it fought a liquidity shortage in the wake of the Terra-Luna stablecoin crash. Its Hong Kong affiliate, Hodlnaut HK sustained a US$190 million loss because the Terra algorithmic stablecoin’s currency peg broke, as per Bloomberg.

In an associated event, Hodlnaut’s court appointed administrators announced in a declaration on Nov. 11 that around 25% of the firm’s assets were on centralized cryptocurrency exchanges and more than 71% of those digital assets worth S$18.47 million were stored with the now insolvent FTX exchange. The management sought to relocate the digital assets from FTX to certain other platforms but were unable to do so, according to statement.