Singapore Police Is Investigating Hodlnaut Over Fraud Allegations
- The Singapore Police has launched an investigation into the now-bankrupt crypto lender Hodlnaut Pte after receiving multiple reports that the firm’s directors and executives were cheating on their customers.
- The authorities issued a statement on Wednesday, Nov. 23, saying that it received multiple reports between August and November which alleged that the firm “made false statements about the company’s access to a certain digital token.”
- After halting withdrawals in August and sending home almost 80% of its employees, Hodlnaut continues to try to make a recovery and repay its users.
The authorities in Singapore, one of the up-and-coming crypto hubs, have launched an investigation into Hodlnaut Pte, a platform that provides financial services for individual investors who can earn interest on their cryptocurrencies and operates out of the city-state.
The police force of Singapore have launched a probe into the executives and directors of Hodlnaut for potential cheating and fraud offenses in an attempt to protect those who have deposited their crypto coins in the platform. This adds to the numerous issues that the crypto platform is currently facing from regulators in the city-state as well as other parts of the world.
As per a report, The Singapore Police Force issued a statement on Wednesday, Nov. 23, saying that it received multiple reports between August and November which alleged that the Hodlnaut directors and executives were not playing fair with their employees and customers and “made false statements about the company’s access to a certain digital token.”
Hodlnaut and the firm’s directors and executives are being investigated under sections 417 and 424A of the Penal Code for fraud and deception. Meanwhile Hodlnaut, which was granted protection from creditors following bankruptcy declaration in August, did not reveal details regarding the investigations publicly.
Hodlnaut has been one of the crypto lenders that have been affected by the 70% price crash of the leading cryptocurrencies in the market and the collapse of the Terra ecosystem. A report confirms that the crypto lender based in Singapore had lost $190 million due to the crash of the Terra stablecoin or UST (now USTC or Terra Classic USD.) after it converted some of its digital asset holdings to UST earlier this year.
After halting withdrawals in August and sending home almost 80% of its employees, Hodlnaut continues to try to make a recovery and repay its users. However, the new investigation opened by the Singapor Police might make things more difficult for the bankrupt firm.
Singapore Not Taking Crypto Lightly
Singapore is not taking digital assets and blockchain technology lightly. While it has approved firms like Hashkey and Circle to begin operations in the city-state located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, it has also cracked down on fraudsters and collapsed crypto firms for their practices.
As per a recent report from multinational professional services network, KPMG, the wealthy classes in Hong Kong and Singapore have an increased interest in digital assets. The company said that over 90% of family offices and high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) in these regions are looking at investing in digital assets.
A crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in DeFi, NFT, metaverse, etc. Parth has worked with major media outlets in the crypto and finance world and has gained experience and expertise in crypto culture after surviving bear and bull markets over the years.
