The founders of the embattled cryptocurrency lender Hodlnaut are desperately attempting to save the business from creditors who are pushing for its liquidation. On Feb. 28, Hodlnaut’s interim judicial managers released the sixth affidavit of Hodlnaut co-founder Simon Lee, which revealed that the company’s founders had proposed selling the business as a more viable option for creditors than liquidating the firm.
According to a report by Bloomberg, Lee stated that he and Hodlnaut’s other co-founder Zhu Juntao had reached out to a number of “potential white knight investors” in an effort to salvage the company. Lee expressed confidence that Hodlnaut’s user base “can be acquired and on-boarded on digital-asset platforms owned or affiliated to such investors,” which he believes would maximize value for creditors.
The affidavit further confirmed Hodlnaut’s willingness to sell the firm, as the company had been in talks with several potential investors to sell it's business and other assets. In early February, a number of potential buyers inquired about purchasing Hodlnaut and its claims against the collapsed crypto exchange FTX.
This news follows key Hodlnaut creditors, including Algorand Foundation, rejecting a restructuring plan in January that would have allowed the current directors to oversee the firm’s operations during the restructuring phase. The creditors argued that the restructuring would be of no help and that it was in their best interest to liquidate the firm’s remaining assets.
As of December 2022, Hodlnaut Group had accrued a total debt of $160.3 million, or 62% of their outstanding obligations, to companies such as Algorand, Samtrade Custodian, S.A.M. Fintech, and Jean-Marc Tremeaux.
The crypto lending platform was forced to suspend services in August 2022 due to a liquidity crisis caused by the bear market of that year. Furthermore, Hodlnaut was heavily exposed to the now-defunct FTX exchange, with over 500 Bitcoin stuck on Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto exchange.
This news comes shortly after another crypto lender, Voyager, announced on February 28th that customers had voted in favour of a restructuring plan with Binance's US-based business, Binance.US. In December, Binance.US revealed that they had reached an agreement to purchase Voyager's assets for a staggering $1.02 billion.
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