Wemade Unveils Blockchain-Powered Platform for Various Communities

Hodlnaut to proceed to liquidationCryptocurrency lender Hodlnaut, based in Singapore, is set to undergo liquidation, according to former interim judicial managers, Aaron Lee and Angela Ee.The High Court of Singapore has lifted the protection order it had put in place in respect of the business and efforts to restructure it in August 2022. The decision, formalized with a winding-up order filed on Friday in the High Court, follows a period of trading in 2022 when the company incurred losses of approximately $189 million due to the collapse of the Terra ecosystem in May 2022.The liquidators, tasked with providing regular updates to the more than 17,000 creditors, will oversee the process. Hodlnaut’s crypto assets, amounting to $13.3 million, were locked on FTX before the exchange froze withdrawals and declared bankruptcy last November. Despite a rejected restructuring plan earlier this year, the creditors opted for liquidation, deeming it more favorable to their interests. Aaron Lee and Angela Ee will now act as the appointed liquidators, overseeing the winding-up process under the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act of 2018.Photo by Hu Chen on UnsplashCreditors favored liquidationAt an early stage, Hodlnaut founders Simon Lee and Zhu Juntao were in favor of a business sale as a preferable alternative to liquidation. Back in February, there appeared to be some potential of a sale, with several buyers having indicated an interest in the business. The identity of these interested parties was never revealed and the interim judicial managers of the restructuring process later confirmed that no “white knight” had emerged to buy out the business.It became clear in April of this year that creditors preferred liquidation as opposed to attempting to restructure the business. The Algorand Foundation is a leading creditor, with a $35 million exposure to Hodlnaut. In a court filing in April, the Algorand Foundation, alongside other leading creditors Samtrade Custodian Limited and S.A.M. Fintech Pte Ltd., were noted as being opposed to a restructuring.OPNX bidIn August it emerged that controversial crypto claims trading platform OPNX, owned by Three Arrows Capital’s (3AC) Kyle Davies and Su Zhu alongside Mark and Leslie Lamb from CoinFLEX, was mounting a bid for Hodlnaut.OPNX had proposed to provide a capital injection of $30 million. The proposal outlined that this investment would be made in the form of FLEX tokens, the native token of the CoinFLEX platform.Following consideration by the interim judicial managers overseeing Hodlnaut’s restructuring process, it decided not to take up the offer. It was decided that the FLEX tokens had a speculative value and that they were highly illiquid.Additionally, no clear timeline had been provided by OPNX in respect of the repayment of creditors’ debts. Furthermore, the proposal was found to be scant on detail, particularly with regard to payments which were limited to 30% of liabilities. In August the FLEX token experienced a large drop, falling 90% in value.

Asian fund acquires majority stake in The BlockIn the wake of certain difficulties experienced following the FTX collapse, prominent crypto publication The Block has secured its future through a strategic sale to Singapore-based venture capital group Foresight Ventures.Taking to the X platform on Monday, The Block’s CEO Larry Cermak announced the acquisition, with Foresight Ventures taking a majority stake in the publication. The deal results in a valuation of the US media group at $70 million. Cermak stated:”This [transaction] gives The Block a fresh start ahead of the bull market and provides us with more capital to build out new exciting products and expand our footprint into Asia and the Middle East.”Cermak also thanked New York-based investment bank Moelis & Company for its help in running the process.Photo by Kelly Sikkema on UnsplashFTX controversyThe sale should allow the firm to move on from a difficult situation which saw it implicated in the activities of convicted fraudster and former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF). The fallout from the collapse of the FTX exchange in November of last year included the revelation that The Block had relied on undisclosed loans from SBF to sustain its operations.Michael McCaffrey, the former CEO of The Block, resigned last December after it was disclosed that he had borrowed $43 million from SBF’s Alameda Research, a crypto trading company. This financial arrangement was allegedly aimed at supporting the media company and facilitating property acquisitions.Following the conviction of SBF on charges of fraud and money laundering in New York earlier this month, The Block faced challenges and turned its focus towards building a more robust institutional customer base. The media group has been actively engaged in compiling industry deals and offering subscription-based news services.McCaffrey had taken loans totaling $27 million to buy out shareholders and support the media group, with an additional $16 million used for property acquisition in the Bahamas. The financial arrangement with Alameda was undisclosed to the broader team at The Block, as revealed by Bobby Moran, the company’s chief revenue officer at the time.It’s still unclear if McCaffrey has repaid these loans to the FTX Debtor that is currently managing the FTX business. FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2022 and with that, it is in the process of being restructured.$56 million investmentAs part of the deal, Foresight Ventures will invest $56 million, securing an 80 percent stake in The Block, according to a source cited by the Financial Times (FT). The investment is a strategic move, especially considering the recent slowdown in venture capital investment in the crypto market.While investors injected approximately $30 billion into crypto projects in both 2021 and 2022, the figure plummeted to $7 billion by the end of September of this year, according to PitchBook.Foresight Ventures CEO Forest Bai confirmed to the FT that The Block will continue to operate as an independent business. Bai stated: “We think The Block is one of the crown assets in the crypto media space. Our view is that the media aspect will continue to drive education and adoption in the space.”

The long-awaited approval of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the U.S. on Tuesday is anticipated to have a more substantial impact on the development of cryptocurrencies in Asia. That’s the view of Yat Siu, the co-founder of Animoca Brands, a Hong Kong-based crypto venture capital and game software firm. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) approval is expected to attract new capital to the crypto industry, providing a safer avenue for the crypto-curious.Photo by André François McKenzie on UnsplashPotential for surge of interest in AsiaIn an interview with The Block, Siu emphasized the positive effect on Asia, attributing it to the region's regulatory clarity and the willingness of governments and regulators to build a crypto ecosystem. Strengthening regulatory oversight was a finding of a recent report relative to a number of Asian hubs. Industry leaders believe that the approval of spot bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. could lead to a surge of interest in Asia, where crypto adoption is already higher than in other continents. The perception of cryptocurrencies as investment assets, rather than just for transactions, might shift in the Asian market, with the ETF offering a regulated and lower-risk avenue for investment exposure. Additionally, Yat Siu noted that Asian investors, particularly the younger generation, have a more open view towards capitalism compared to their U.S. counterparts. In a recent interview with CNBC, Australian venture capitalist and founder of MHC Digital Group, Mark Carnegie, also expressed the opinion that the digital asset markets in Asia would flourish once the hype of the U.S. ETF approval has subsided. ETF focus on Singapore and Hong KongPost the U.S. approval, attention turns to Asia, with Hong Kong and Singapore emerging as potential candidates for introducing spot crypto ETFs. Hong Kong, in particular, has undergone regulatory renewal, positioning itself as a crypto hub, with it reportedly already attracting interest from fund managers, including those backed by Chinese capital, looking into launching spot crypto ETFs. Yat Siu alongside Glenn Woo, Head of Sales of APAC at Web3 infrastructure company Blockdaemon, were both positive in their assessment of Hong Kong as a worthy location for the offering of spot bitcoin ETFs in comments made last month. In November, the CEO of Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) indicated an openness to considering proposals for spot crypto ETF products aimed at retail investors. Singapore, known for its mature regulatory environment, is also considered a strong contender. Meanwhile, Japan may witness significant regulatory movement following the U.S. ETF approval. However, challenges and variables remain for Asia. The scale of capital inflows in Asia, compared to the U.S., and the caution of regulators in the face of crypto industry volatility and trust issues are cited as potential hurdles. Some experts suggest that Hong Kong and Singapore may initially be cautious in encouraging retail participation in virtual asset investments due to previous losses experienced by residents. Still, in the medium to longer term, increased interest and appetite for virtual assets are expected.