Hodlnaut abruptly stops all its services and stunned its users.

I didn’t want to talk about it because it was so close to home.

Not only was it a Singapore company, I was also a keen believer of Hodlnaut.

Hodlnaut was essentially a web3 bank that generates interest yields on your deposits.

You put in crypto, they give you back more crypto over time.

At least that is how it works in theory.

In reality, between the 3AC and Terra/Luna meltdown, BTC crashing and the entire crypto market looking like a bloody scene from Chucky, generating yields wasn’t quite so easy.

Apparently, Hodlnaut were heavily invested into the whole UST shebang (putting in UST on Anchor Protocol to generate 19% of absolutely juicy, mouth-watering yields).

When confronted, CEO Zhu Juntao decalred that they did not lose any money and that “Hodlnaut did not purchase any UST.”

CEO Juntao emphasized that Holdnaut had NO exposure to the 3AC fallout and did not buy any UST.

When UST collapsed, so did their portfolio.

Months later, the aftermath finally leaked out.

As abruptly as rain on a bright sunny day, Hodlnaut announced to all the users that they will be halting all withdrawals, swaps and deposits.

They even withdrawn their MAS license willingly and proactively.

“Hodlnaut said the move was “due to recent market conditions” and was “to focus on stabilising our liquidity and preserving assets”.”

In other words, they got greedy, didn’t know how to manage their users’ funds responsibly, burned their risk management book and played their hand wrong.

Ouch.

It was rumoured that based on on-chain transactions dug up by online sleuths, Hodlnaut had $187M exposure to the Terra collapse and at one point even up to $237M.

They were managing up to US $1B in assets at their peak, which was impressive for a startup founded in 2019 just before the crypto boom.

Hodlnaut was a rising star that fell pretty hard and fast during the crypto winter.

For those who didn’t know, Hodlnaut was one of the darlings in the Singapore crypto scene.

They were one of the graduates from Antler, a well-known startup incubator program in Asia.

They had in-principle approval license from MAS and grew their user base quickly.

Back then, it was a brilliant way for Singaporeans to on-ramp into the relatively unknown world of crypto.

Their emphasis on user experience and growth was quite admirable.

I tried it, it was actually fun to use their app and watch your cryptocurrencies grow literally by the second.

They introduced Luna onto their platform on 6 April and by 8 August, barely 4 months later, they are on the brink of a collapse and irrevocable death.

I am pretty sure many more were affected by the Terra/Luna fallout and this won’t be the last bad news.

Armed with an in-principle approval by MAS, lots of love from their users, a growing war chest and a bull run (back then), what could go wrong for Hodlnaut?

There are so many stories on how users were traumatised by the firestorm from Celsius, 3AC, Luna, Blockfi, Voyager and now Hodlnaut.

I am intrigued as to what MAS would do.

What can they do to Hodlnaut?

What can they do to help the users who suffered from the Hodlnaut meltdown?

Should the government or authorities even do anything?

After all, web3 is a dangerous space and you need to go in with your eyes peeled.

Will they clamp down extra hard on crypto players moving forward and risk chasing away the entire market?

-

Could we have prevented the Hodlnaut situation?

-

#startups #business #startupx #growth #success #socialmedia #culture #web3 #strategy #eth #btc #crypto #Hodlnaut #mas #singapore #cryptocurrency #celsius #terraluna #contagion #grifts

Hodlnaut abruptly stops all its services and stunned its users.

I didn’t want to talk about it because it was so close to home.

Not only was it a Singapore company, I was also a keen believer of Hodlnaut.

Hodlnaut was essentially a web3 bank that generates interest yields on your deposits.

You put in crypto, they give you back more crypto over time.

At least that is how it works in theory.

In reality, between the 3AC and Terra/Luna meltdown, BTC crashing and the entire crypto market looking like a bloody scene from Chucky, generating yields wasn’t quite so easy.

Apparently, Hodlnaut were heavily invested into the whole UST shebang (putting in UST on Anchor Protocol to generate 19% of absolutely juicy, mouth-watering yields).

When confronted, CEO Zhu Juntao decalred that they did not lose any money and that “Hodlnaut did not purchase any UST.”

CEO Juntao emphasized that Holdnaut had NO exposure to the 3AC fallout and did not buy any UST.

When UST collapsed, so did their portfolio.

Months later, the aftermath finally leaked out.

As abruptly as rain on a bright sunny day, Hodlnaut announced to all the users that they will be halting all withdrawals, swaps and deposits.

They even withdrawn their MAS license willingly and proactively.

“Hodlnaut said the move was “due to recent market conditions” and was “to focus on stabilising our liquidity and preserving assets”.”

In other words, they got greedy, didn’t know how to manage their users’ funds responsibly, burned their risk management book and played their hand wrong.

Ouch.

It was rumoured that based on on-chain transactions dug up by online sleuths, Hodlnaut had $187M exposure to the Terra collapse and at one point even up to $237M.

They were managing up to US $1B in assets at their peak, which was impressive for a startup founded in 2019 just before the crypto boom.

Hodlnaut was a rising star that fell pretty hard and fast during the crypto winter.

For those who didn’t know, Hodlnaut was one of the darlings in the Singapore crypto scene.

They were one of the graduates from Antler, a well-known startup incubator program in Asia.

They had in-principle approval license from MAS and grew their user base quickly.

Back then, it was a brilliant way for Singaporeans to on-ramp into the relatively unknown world of crypto.

Their emphasis on user experience and growth was quite admirable.

I tried it, it was actually fun to use their app and watch your cryptocurrencies grow literally by the second.

They introduced Luna onto their platform on 6 April and by 8 August, barely 4 months later, they are on the brink of a collapse and irrevocable death.

I am pretty sure many more were affected by the Terra/Luna fallout and this won’t be the last bad news.

Armed with an in-principle approval by MAS, lots of love from their users, a growing war chest and a bull run (back then), what could go wrong for Hodlnaut?

There are so many stories on how users were traumatised by the firestorm from Celsius, 3AC, Luna, Blockfi, Voyager and now Hodlnaut.

I am intrigued as to what MAS would do.

What can they do to Hodlnaut?

What can they do to help the users who suffered from the Hodlnaut meltdown?

Should the government or authorities even do anything?

After all, web3 is a dangerous space and you need to go in with your eyes peeled.

Will they clamp down extra hard on crypto players moving forward and risk chasing away the entire market?

-

Could we have prevented the Hodlnaut situation?

-

#startups #business #startupx #growth #success #socialmedia #culture #web3 #strategy #eth #btc #crypto #Hodlnaut #mas #singapore #cryptocurrency #celsius #terraluna #contagion #grifts