UPDATED 13:20 EDT / JUNE 30 2022

BLOCKCHAIN

Report: Crypto brokerage Genesis Trading facing ‘hundreds of millions’ in losses

Genesis Global Trading Inc., a cryptocurrency lender and prime broker, may be facing considerable losses of “hundreds of millions” of dollars from its exposure to the collapsing crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital and Hong Kong-based crypto lender Babel Finance, according to a report from CoinDesk.

The losses Genesis is potentially facing are part of ripple effects permeating the crypto industry from the recent insolvency that hit Three Arrows Capital after the firm failed to meet loan repayment obligations with cryptocurrency broker Voyager Digital Ltd.

Three Arrows Capital was ordered into liquidation by a British Virgin Islands court on June 27 in order to pay back the $670 million loan. That loan consisted of $350 million in the U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin, USDC and 15,250 bitcoins.

Babel Finance, a crypto financial services provider, suspended withdrawals on June 17 after reports of 3AC’s rumored insolvency, citing “unusual liquidity pressures.” The company announced on June 20 that it has reached “preliminary agreements on repayment” of some debts to ease its short-term liquidity. However, withdrawals have remained suspended for two weeks.

“As we already stated on June 17, we mitigated our losses with a large counterparty who failed to meet a margin call to us,” Genesis Chief Executive Michael Moro said in a statement. “We sold collateral, hedged our downside and moved on. Our business continues to operate normally and we are meeting all of our clients’ needs.”

Moro’s statement refers to a series of tweets addressing losses that the company suffered during that week and according to him, no client funds were impacted. At the time he stated that the firm had “shed the risk and moved on.”

Numerous parts of the crypto industry have been affected by the downturn during June. Celsius Network, a major U.S. cryptocurrency lending company, suspended withdrawals in mid-June after citing “extreme” conditions in the market that caused its own native token to plummet 50% after the news. According to The Block, exchange operator FTX has sought to work with Celsius but ultimately walked away after discovering the company was over $2 billion in debt.

Major cryptocurrency lending firm BlockFi has also reportedly had exposure to Three Arrows Capital. According to the report, a leaked call from investor Morgan Creek Digital revealed that BlockFi had loaned $1 billion to 3AC, overcollateralized at 30%.

FTX also worked with BlockFi by providing the company with a $250 million revolving line of credit, BlockFi Chief Executive Zac Prince announced in a tweet on Tuesday.

After the news, this morning cryptocurrency markets fell again, with Bitcoin dropping below $20,000 to $19,076, a 4.76% drop from its high in the past 24 hours. Following suit, Ethereum has also fallen to $1,026, down 7.25% this morning.

Image: Pixabay

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