One of the leading digital assets lenders, Babel Finance, froze withdrawals owing to “unusual liquidity pressures”. This move was in response to investors pulling out due to the recent market crash. Due to the recent volatility in the crypto industry, many organizations have neared bankruptcy, or are facing a major financial crunch. Babel’s spokesperson told Bloomberg that the team has been experiencing “some pressure” and “are working on it.” Another leading crypto platform, Celsius Network, halted the withdrawal of funds to prevent running out of cash. Arrow Capital, a hedge fund doubled down on the situation, tweeting about financial problems at the company. A recent market downdraft has sent the value of all crypto below $1 trillion, a precipitous drop from its recent high of $3 trillion.
Hong-Kong Based Lenders with Focus on Stablecoins, Babel, Raise Money From Jeneration Capital, 10T holdings & Others 2022
With about 500 clients and a focus on Bitcoin, Ether, and stablecoins, Hong Kong’s Babel is one of the biggest lenders in crypto and often acts as a bridge between Asia and the West. Jeneration Capital and 10T holdings were among the investors in Babel’s funding round in May. Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global are listed as Babel’s current investors on its website. The firm had more than $3 billion in outstanding loans at the end of 2021, Despite having a valuation of $2 billion.
While Babel’s main clients have been Bitcoin and Ethereum miners, its focus has shifted to more institutions since China’s industry ban. In contrast, Celsius counts more than a million retail investors among its customers.
After TerraUSD & Luna Crash, DeFi Firm Three Arrows Addresses Acquisition Concerns on Twitter
Market declines have reverberated across an industry still reeling from last month’s implosion of TerraUSD and its sister Luna, an experiment in loosely regulated decentralized finance that went spectacularly wrong. In addition to participating in a Luna token sale earlier this year, Three Arrows is among firms in DeFi whose use of leverage is now causing severe pain as market declines threaten forced liquidations.
On Wednesday, Three Arrows raised alarms that it was at risk of being rescued by another firm, when co-founder Zhu Su tweeted that the firm was “in the process of communicating with relevant parties and fully committed to working this out.” On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Three Arrows is exploring options including asset sales and a rescue by another firm, according to co-founder Kyle Davies.
Via this site Cryptocurrency Lender Babel Follows Celsius in Withdrawal Freeze – Bloomberg