The creators of Three Arrows Capital are missing, according to reports, when court-appointed liquidators visited the firm's Singapore headquarters recently, all they discovered was a locked door and a stack of outdated mail. Singapore-based 3AC is among the flagship cryptocurrency firms that have crumbled under bear pressure and faced liquidity issues driven by the market sell-off in recent weeks. In June, a court in the British Virgin Islands, where 3AC had moved its registration, appointed advisory firm Teneo in June to liquidate 3AC assets. Teneo senior managing directors Russell Crumpler and Christopher Farmer informed the court on July 8 that …

The managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Ravi Menon, addressed the agency’s mixed signals on crypto in the public sphere at a seminar on Aug. 29. The public claimed that local regulators were spreading crypto-positive sentiments while simultaneously threatening more regulations. According to the new statement from Menon, the observation is not entirely wrong. He says the agency needs to do “a better job explaining” the situation. Overall, MAS is pro-digital assets, as directly stated by Menon, "yes to digital asset innovation, no to cryptocurrency speculation." Regulators want the island country to become a hub for fintech …

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has started taking measures to prepare for new cryptocurrency regulations addressing the ongoing liquidity crisis and withdrawal issues. Singapore’s central bank has sent detailed questionnaires to some applicants and holders of the MAS’ Digital Payment Token licenses, Bloomberg reported on Friday. Sent over the last month, the questionnaires were reportedly seeking “highly granular information” about business activity and holdings by examined crypto firms. The checks were focused on firms’ financial stability and interconnection, with questions including top tokens owned, top lending and borrowing counterparties, the amount loaned and top tokens staked via decentralized finance …

A major cryptocurrency selloff in June 2022 has sparked more interest in Bitcoin (BTC) from institutional investors, according to data from one of the biggest banks in Singapore. The total number of trades on DDEx more than doubled in June 2022 as compared to April 2022 amid the growing investor appetite for digital assets like Bitcoin and Ether (ETH). Buy orders on DDEx accounted for 90% of all trades in June as cryptocurrencies traded at notable discounts in mid-2022, DBS said. Compared to April 2022, the amount of Bitcoin purchased on DDEx in June saw a fourfold increase, while the …

Singapore-based crypto lending platform Hodlnaut is seeking judicial management to manage its ongoing liquidity crisis and avoid the forced liquidation of assets in the current bear market. The crypto lender informed its users in a Tuesday announcement that they have applied to the Singapore High Court to be placed under judicial management. The firm said: “We are aiming to avoid a forced liquidation of our assets as it is a suboptimal solution that will require us to sell our users’ cryptocurrencies such as BTC, ETH and WBTC at these current depressed asset prices. Instead, we believe that undergoing judicial management …

Cryptocurrency exchange Zipmex has gotten a chance to sort out liquidity issues as a court in Singapore has granted the firm with more than three months of creditor protection. Singapore’s High Court has ruled to give each of the five Zipmex entities a moratorium until Dec. 2, 2022 to come up with a restructuring plan, Bloomberg reported on Monday. The action aims to protect Zipmex from potential creditor lawsuits during the moratorium period after the exchange abruptly halted crypto withdrawals on its platform in mid-July. The cryptocurrency has since resumed partial withdrawals from Zipmex’s trade wallet but is yet to …

Singapore-based crypto lending platform Hodlnaut has become the latest firm to suspend withdrawals, and deposits blaming market conditions and lack of liquidity. The crypto lending firm made an official announcement on Aug. 8, claiming that market conditions have forced it to suspend its services and that it is actively working on recovery plans. Dear users, we regret to inform you that we will be halting withdrawals, token swaps and deposits immediately due to recent market conditions. We have also withdrawn our MAS licence application. Here is our full statement https://t.co/5KfHUBzWsn Our next update will be on 19 Aug. — Hodlnaut …

The crypto market crash in April saw most cryptocurrencies lose more than 60% of their valuation from the top, leading to an overall downturn in trading activity, investor interest and venture capital investment. A recent study has highlighted nations' growing curiosity and interest in crypto after the April crash. The research was based on Google Trends data of popular crypto search terms that often reflect increased interest in the crypto market. The search history of each nation was then compiled to give an overall search score. The countries at the top of the list appear to be most eager to …

The Monetary Authority of Singapore, or MAS, has been “carefully considering” adding restrictions that could affect how retail investors handle crypto, according to one of the government’s senior ministers. According to parliamentary records published on Monday, Singapore senior minister and MAS chair Tharman Shanmugaratnam said the financial watchdog may consider “placing limits on retail participation” for crypto investors as well as introducing rules on the use of leverage for crypto transactions. Shanmugaratnam also called for regulatory clarity among financial regulators around the world, “given the borderless nature of cryptocurrency markets.” In January, the MAS barred crypto service providers from advertising …

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has reprimanded Three Arrows Capital (3AC), an embattled hedge fund, for providing inaccurate information to the authorities. In a statement published Thursday, the MAS said that the firm violated capital requirements by having assets under management in excess of the permitted amount. When 3AC was registered as a fund management company in Singapore in 2013, it was allowed to manage funds for up to 30 investors worth up to $180 million. The fund had previously informed MAS that it was changing its management to the British Virgin Islands. Three Arrows Capital, a hedge fund …

Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) do not pose any direct threat to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) but are still associated with risks in relation to stablecoins, one industry executive believes. According to Mikkel Morch, executive director at the digital asset hedge fund ARK36, a state-backed digital currency like the U.S. dollar doesn’t necessarily have to be a competitor to a private or a decentralized cryptocurrency. That’s because the use cases and value proposition of the decentralized digital assets “often go beyond the realm of simple transactions,” Morch said in a statement to Cointelegraph on Thursday. The exec referred to Federal …

Singapore’s financial regulator and the central bank have pledged to be “brutal and unrelentingly hard” on any “bad behavior” from the cryptocurrency industry. The comments come from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)’s chief fintech officer Sopnendu Mohanty, explaining in an interview that “if somebody has done a bad thing, we are brutal and unrelentingly hard.” He also hit back at the rhetoric of certain crypto market participants who have criticized the regulator for not being friendly enough to crypto, and instead questioned the legitimacy of the market, saying: “We have been called out by many cryptocurrencies for not being …