Former Hodlnaut CEO Zhu Juntao was charged in Singapore with six counts of fraud by false representation, in a case tied to statements Zhu and Hodlnaut employees allegedly made after the 2022 collapse of the Terra ecosystem.
Singapore Police said Zhu, 36, was charged following an investigation by the Commercial Affairs Department and faces three charges under Section 424A(1)(a) read with Section 424A(3) of the Penal Code 1871, as well as three further charges under the same provision read with Section 109.
The case centers on alleged false claims about Hodlnaut’s exposure to the TerraUSD (UST) crash, including accusations that Zhu directed staff to issue some of the statements.
Police said Zhu allegedly instigated Hodlnaut employees to make misleading statements in the company’s official Telegram group and in emails sent to some users between May and July 2022, asserting that the platform did not have direct exposure to UST and had not suffered losses from its crash.
Singapore Police Force charges former Hodlnaut chief executive Zhu Juntao. Source:Singapore Police Force
The police statement also said Zhu published three similar posts on his personal Twitter account, now known as X, in June 2022. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison, a fine, or both, on each charge.
The charges revive scrutiny of one of the most damaging episodes in the 2022 digital asset market rout. The Terra ecosystem imploded in May 2022 when its algorithmic stablecoin UST lost its dollar peg, wiping out approximately $50 billion in market value and helping trigger broader failures across the crypto lending sector.
Hodlnaut’s collapse and liquidation
Hodlnaut, a Singapore-based crypto platform that allowed users to deposit tokens for yield, had more than 30,000 users worldwide before it became defunct in August 2022 due to financial difficulties, according to police.
The company halted withdrawals in August 2022, and its website now says its affairs, business and property are being managed by court-appointed liquidators.
Other crypto lenders, including Celsius Network and Voyager Digital, also fell into bankruptcy in 2022 amid the Terra fallout and a wider market slump, leaving hundreds of thousands of customers with frozen funds.
Celsius reported more than $10 billion in assets before its collapse, while Voyager’s Chapter 11 filing listed between $1 billion and $10 billion in assets and liabilities.
Cointelegraph reached out to Hodlnaut’s court-appointed liquidators, but they did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
