Contagion? Following Haru Invest, South Korean crypto firm Delio also announced a suspension of withdrawals
Originally written by Karen, Foresight News
Originally written by Karen, Foresight News
Following the suspension of deposits and withdrawals on the platform by Haru Invest, Delio announced yesterday that it will suspend withdrawals due to the sharp increase in market volatility and other circumstances. Many users are concerned about possible panic and the risk of serial runs amid questions about Delio depositing client funds into Haru Invest.Haru Invest says its commissioned operator, B&S Holdings, fraudulently provided management with false informationReportReport
, has filed criminal proceedings against B&S Holdings and plans to file civil proceedings. According to News 1, B&S Holdings is a Korean company that has used FTX.Additionally, @ErgoBTC postedpushSaid, "Haru Invest's BTC balance has never been particularly high, and the highest transaction volume will be in the summer of 2022,
It is detected that Haru Invest's two fund transactions to FTX are the largest transfer transactions of its Bitcoin address. "
However, Haru Invest responded to the FTX issue in November last year, saying that "the risk has been detected before the risk of FTX spread, and all assets managed on FTX have been withdrawn without any loss, and they have not been affected by the price drop of FTX and FTT." influence, and guarantees that assets are reallocated only on exchanges that have proof of reserves or issue guidelines regarding proof of reserves.”
So what happened to Delio and Haru Invest these days? Where are the main bodies behind the two companies? What services do you provide? Do you have any business dealings? How do relevant regulators view this incident? The author will take you to find out.
first level title
Who is Haru Invest?Haru Invest is headquartered in Singapore, but has been mainly operating in South Korea, providing products or services such as Earn products (flexible savings and fixed deposits), encrypted asset exchange, and also depositing users into assets to generate income through certain trading strategies. As Foresight News previously wrote, "We took a look at Haru Invest who "can't withdraw money"
", Haru Invest claims to provide more than 10% annualized return for Bitcoin and other deposits through trading strategies such as moving bricks.Haru Invest was established in 2019 by the parent company Block Crafters (digital asset investment institution), and Block Crafts will be established in 2020FinishA round of strategic financing, one of the investors is Chun Yang-Hyun, executive chairman of Web3 avatar and digital company Cocone Corporation and former president of LINE Japan, and other investors are DTN Investment and T Investment. Haru Invest is valued at $284 million in September 2022Finish
According to Haru Invest's official website, Haru Invest currently has more than 80,000 members in more than 140 countries/regions, with a total transaction volume of more than US$2.27 billion and assets under management of less than US$1 billion.
first level title
Who is Delio?Founded in 2018, Delio is an encrypted financial company. It has completed the virtual asset business in 2022 in accordance with South Korea's "Special Financial Law".declare
, has also obtained a US Money Services Business (MSB) license. According to the official website, Delio provides services such as deposits (deposit assets to earn income), loans, pledges, exchanges, etc., and also provides asset custody services for enterprises, institutions, and large households. Delio's official website states that its asset custody service can provide up to 12% annual income.
It is worth mentioning that in early June 2022, according to Edaily reports, Delio signed an asset supply contract worth approximately US$600 million with BlockFi and Three Arrows Capital, and Delio will receive US$600 million worth of Bitcoin, ETH and USDT asset supply, Delio plans to use this guarantee fund to prioritize the expansion of the current loan service and increase the loan amount. In addition, Delio is also discussing with BlockFi how to cooperate in encrypted financial business.
first level title
what happened?
what happened?
June 13
Haru Invest announces that due to a recent experience with certain issues with a service partner, the matter is being further investigated and contingency plans are being sought to rectify the situation. Deposits and withdrawals are suspended in order to protect escrowed user assets.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the office of Haru Invest is suspected to be closed, and social accounts such as Instagram and LinkedIn have been canceled.
Several South Korean exchanges such as Upbit restrict withdrawals to Haru Invest.
Haru Invest tweeted, “The Haru Invest office is running continuously, and the so-called ‘Rug Pull controversy’ mentioned in some articles is completely untrue. Haru Invest is trying its best to do a good job of fact-finding and response work, and will do its best protect investors."
Haru Invest explained and updated the suspension of deposit and withdrawal services, "Recently, we found through internal inspections that a consignment operator (consignment operator) provided suspected false information. In order to protect investors, it is necessary to suspend trading immediately. At present, we are investigating The operator involved will conduct a fact-finding investigation and plan to take necessary measures.
Delio said Haru Invest's suspension of deposits and withdrawals had nothing to do with the company.
June 14
Delio issued a notice that all employees will work from home from June 15th (Delio representatives said that they will work from home before the end of June).
Delio issued a notice that it will temporarily change the operation of the customer center, that is, the customer service center will only provide email and chat channels from June 15th to June 30th, and cancel the telephone communication channel.
Delio announced that withdrawals will be suspended from 18:30 local time today. Delio said the move was due to heightened market volatility after Haru Invest suspended deposits and withdrawals.
Subsequently, several South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges said they would limit the withdrawal of assets to Delio.
However, Foresight News has not yet found relevant information about B&S Holdings. According to News 1, B&S Holdings is a Korean company. According to its website, it uses FTX, an exchange that went bankrupt last November. Currently, BNS Holdings is deleting the information listed on the homepage in real time. In a Korean telegram group, some users said that the website of B&S Holdings is suspected to be http://bangnsong.com/, and the information on this website has been deleted.
first level title
Haru Invest does business with Delio
Regarding the connection between Haru Invest and Delio, although Delio clarified on June 13 that the suspension of deposits and withdrawals by Haru Invest has nothing to do with the company. However, as the outside world continued to question Delio's deposit of customer funds into Haru Invest, Delio's representative responded to Block Media media: "Delio has business dealings with Haru Invest, but it is not convenient to disclose the specific amount. The suspension of withdrawals is due to the Haru Invest incident After that happened, Delio saw a spike in withdrawal requests. There are multiple wallets within the company, and transfers between wallets are common.”
After Delio suspended withdrawals, according to Bloomingbit reports, while Delio announced the suspension of customer asset withdrawals, South Korea’s financial regulators stated that due to many problems of embezzlement of public funds and dishonesty, they will cooperate with financial regulators to discuss countermeasures. “Delio did complete the virtual asset business (VASP) declaration, however, after investigation, we found that the main issues seem to be misappropriation and malfeasance. The FIU investigation focuses on money laundering and suspicious transactions,” said a source from the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Korea Financial Services Commission.
In this regard, many users worry that there may be panic and the risk of serial runs. According to Edaily reports, at present, in a chat room initiated by victims related to Haru Invest, about 300 domestic users gather here every day to discuss countermeasures. When Edaily visited Haru Invest Korea and Block Crafters in the Gangnam district of Seoul on June 14, the office was empty. "I had about 20 million won in it, but I felt like I couldn't get it back," said a visiting victim.
Reference link:
https://bloomingbit.io/news/7074697531690582080
https://www.edaily.co.kr/news/read? newsId= 03286566635641720&mediaCodeNo= 257&OutLnkChk=Y
