Crypto exchange Zipmex files for bankruptcy. What users need to know

Zipmex resumed withdrawals last week, a day after suspending them on July 20, and said it was working to address its exposure of $53 million to crypto lenders Babel Finance and Celsius. On 22 July 2022, its solicitors in Singapore, Morgan Lewis Stamford LLC, filed five applications under Section 64 of Singapore’s Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018 on behalf of several of the Zipmex Group’s entities., the cryptocurrency exchange said on Wednesday.

Under Singapore law, such a filing grants companies an automatic moratorium for 30 days, or until a Singapore Court makes a decision on the application, whichever is earlier.

Zipmex, which operates in Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Australia according to its website, is the latest in a string of crypto players globally to run into difficulties following a sharp sell off in markets that started in May with the collapse of two paired tokens, Luna and TerraUSD.

Zipmex is the latest in a string of crypto players globally to run into difficulties following a sharp sell off in crypto markets that started in May with the collapse of two paired tokens, Luna and TerraUSD. Zipmex joins crypto firms from Celsius Network Ltd. to Vauld in suspending withdrawals, leaving depositors in the lurch and underscoring the perils of leveraged bets permeating the industry.

The crypto exchange was launched in September 2019 and is based in Singapore and Thailand, according to its website. The company’s native ZMT token has tumbled more than 93% from its all-time high it had hit in April last year, CoinGecko data shows.

Several crypto companies have filed for bankruptcy or have been forced to look for emergency capital infusions. The cryptocurrency market failed to recover from Terra’s collapse in May as insolvency threats loomed large over major crypto lending companies, spreading fear among market participants. Cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, surged in price in 2020 and 2021, but have fallen sharply this year.

(With inputs from agencies)

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