Babel’s Proposed Stablecoin To Provide Debt Settlement to Creditors
Babel Finance, a major crypto lending firm in Asia, has proposed developing a new stablecoin to repay its creditors after recording massive losses of $766 million last year. The plan involves creating “Babel Recovery Coins” using the project’s earnings.
After recording massive losses last year, financial service provider Babel Finance proposed developing a new stablecoin to generate revenue to repay $766 million to its creditorshttps://t.co/OkoeWF0lo5
— crypto.news (@itscrypto_news) March 6, 2023
Moratorium for Creditor Protection
According to Yang Zhou, the new stablecoin can help solve the company’s financial crisis, which came to light when it halted withdrawals last year. Zhou, now the sole director of Babel, intends to submit a moratorium of protection to the Singapore high court, requesting that creditors refrain from taking any action against the company for six months while it seeks approval on a restructuring proposal.
The startup’s problems arose from its proprietary trading desk using customer funds and accumulating an order-book deficit of $766 million. The filing claims that Wang Li, who was ousted from his position as a leader in Babel in December, is accountable for the losses. It states that the risky trading activities seem to have been directed exclusively by Wang. According to Babel, losses amounting to $524 million in bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), and other digital assets owned by the company and its clients resulted from Wang’s trading activities. The company could not fulfill many margin calls, leading to counterparties liquidating collateral and further losses of $224 million.
Babel is restructuring under the leadership of Yang, who has returned to the company after stepping down. The restructuring focuses on a DeFi project that will issue a stablecoin called Hope. Initially, the stablecoin will be backed by bitcoin and ether as collateral and incentivize traders through arbitrage to maintain its value close to a dollar.
Babel Recovery Coins
Unlike popular stablecoins such as USDC, Hope will not be fully backed by cash and cash-equivalent assets. Kirkland & Ellis and Carey Olsen are advising the restructuring. Babel, founded in 2018, was valued at $2 billion after completing an $80 million funding round in May last year. However, last year’s crypto market downturn caused significant losses for the firm and other digital-asset lenders. Top lenders like Voyager Digital Ltd., Celsius Network, and Genesis Global have filed for bankruptcy. Genesis owes $150 million to Babel, which is its third-largest creditor, according to a January Chapter 11 filing.
The creation of the “Babel Recovery Coins” using project earnings could be a way for the company to generate revenue and settle its debts. The success of this initiative remains to be seen, but it is an innovative solution to address the company’s financial troubles.
