The first moratorium (shielding ZipMex from creditor's lawsuits) as granted by the Singapore Court was set to expire December 2, 2022. At the last moment and in an attempt to finish with its proposed rescue plan of acquisition, ZipMex applied for an extension of the moratorium until April 2023. A notification on the ZipMex website read as follows:
Please be informed that at the hearings of the extension of time applications this morning (HC/SUMS 4184, 4185, 4186, 4187 and 4188 of 2022), the Singapore High Court has granted extensions of each of the moratoria in respect of each of Zipmex Company Limited, Zipmex Pte Ltd, Zipmex Asia Pte Ltd (“Zipmex Asia”), Zipmex Australia Pty Ltd and PT Zipmex Exchange Indonesia respectively until 2 April 2023.
[Deka, C. Zipmex Sees Buyout Offer of $100M as it Secures Creditor Protection: Report. (Accessed December 3, 2022)].
The Court further directed that any applications for a 'superpriority' relative to ZipMex Asia, be fixed for a Hearing by the Court on December 21, 2022 at 10:00 AM local time. (The purpose of a 'superpriority' is to place in order certain claims above others and thereby treating the claims so advanced to maintain a priority for payment.).
According to sources at Bloomberg, ZipMex is ready to be acquired by V Ventures (which is a subsidiary of venture capital fund Thoresen Thai Agencies Pcl, for $100 Million. That sum is reportedly broken into two component parts, to wit: $30 million in cash and the rest will be paid in crypto tokens. According to what is being reported as transpiring at the December 2 Court Hearing, ZipMex will use the crypto tokens to unlock it presently frozen customer accounts by April 2023.
If completed, V Ventures would acquire approximately 90% of ZipMex. While the likes of Celsius fell victim to bankruptcy, it appears that ZipMex will be the first successful rescue of an Asian Exchange.
About one month ago, Crypto Saving Expert reported that ZipMex was in advanced talks with V Ventures regarding a rescue, but at that time negotiations between the parties was ongoing and there was no assurance a deal could be had. However, the December 2 Court Hearing demonstrates that a deal has been reached and will be consummated in the near future.
As you might remember, back in July 2023, ZipMex was forced to halt all platform withdrawals blaming the situation on a combination of circumstances beyond its control. The circumstances faced by ZipMex at that time were clear - severe market turbulence coupled with two large loans it made that were in default. The loans in question were made to Babel Finance and Celsius which totaled the sum of $53 Million.
Despite having to handle the major restructuring issues present, over the past two months, ZipMex was able to partially resume its withdrawals and continued offering some of its services to the public. A review of the ZipMex website shows that for the past two months, ZipMex changes some of its withdrawal fees and as well altered certain of the firms listings.
INFORMATIONAL SOURCES
- Deka, C. Zipmex Sees Buyout Offer of $100M as it Secures Creditor Protection: Report. (Accessed December 3, 2022)
- Frederick, W. Bankrupt Crypto Exchange Zipmex in Buyout Talks. (Accessed December 3, 2022)
- Frederick, W. Venture Capital Firm to Buy Bankrupt Crypto Exchange Zipmex for $100M. (Accessed December 3, 2022)
- Knight, O. Crypto Exchange Zipmex Asks for Creditor Protection Extension With Takeover Talks 'Ongoing'. (Accessed December 3, 2022)
- Nagoda, K. Singapore Court Gives Zipmex a Three Month Moratorium. (Accessed December 3, 2022)
- Partz, H. Thai VC fund acquires troubled exchange Zipmex for $100M: Report. (Accessed December 3, 2023)