Zipmex and Babel are not the only exchanges battling it out this crypto winter.
Cryptocurrency exchange Zipmex, which froze withdrawals on July 20, has shed new light on its battle with Babel as the company desperately sought to recover $48 million from the lender.
The announcement by Zipmex indicates that Babel’s BGM had previously assured the exchange that all liquidity issues could be resolved quickly and in a timely manner. This further led Zipmex to believe there was no cause for concern.
A meeting of the two sides on July 20 changed everything, revealing that, “the road to resolution would be a long one and may not be guaranteed.”
Zipmex Reports to Thai SEC
After the meeting with Babel, Zipmex immediately reported the situation to the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
According to Zipmex, the Babel revelations on July 20 brought “a significant change from previous talks.” This left them with little other recourse to refer themselves and their creditors, Babel and Celsius, to the regulator.
Previous disclosures have revealed that Zipmex lent Babel Finance $48 million and Celsius $5 million. Zipmex went on to explain that prior to the recent events of the crypto winter, the financial history of these companies suggested that they would have little trouble paying off their respective debts.
Zipmex said, “These parties were backed by highly reputable investors.” Before moving on, Celsius Network raised over $750 million in funding at the end of their Series B round in late 2021. They started the round with an investment of $400 million. In total, Celsius Network raised $864 million in funding, valuing the company at $3.5 billion.”
Regarding Babel, they added that it, “raised over $80 million in a Series B funding round in May 2022, bringing its total value to $2 billion.”
In both cases, however, this reasoning proved to be wrong. While Celsius and Babel seem to have been very successful in raising money, neither was as adept at managing it.
A Very Hot Crypto Winter
Crypto winter may be here, but there is still plenty of heat in the atmosphere thanks to tempers blazing around the cryptosphere. Zipmex and Babel are far from the only companies facing each other.
Bancor and Celsius are among the corporations that suddenly fell from grace during the market downturn, with the former accusing the latter of being a “hostile antagonist against the Bancor protocol.”
Bancor went as far as to claim that Celsius was “creating short positions” and trying to destabilize the project.
In more general terms, the biggest sources of anger remain the highly unstable Terra stablecoins and the disaster at venture capital firm Three Arrows Capital (3AC). Both teams have a long list of angry parts to deal with; after they were seemingly mishandled on the ground.
In the case of 3AC founders Kyle Davies and Su Zhun, the anger was so acute that the two men were forced to flee Singapore and go into hiding. Certainly, for some, crypto winter is actually the hottest time of the year.
By Audy Castaneda
