Mark Lamb, chief executive of cryptocurrency exchange CoinFlex, said the company was still looking for a buyer for its $47 million bad debt, so it was "unlikely" to resume withdrawals on Thursday, June 30.
In an interview with CNBC on Wednesday, Lamb said that more time will be needed before the platform reopens for withdrawals, saying:
"We need more time. And it's unlikely that withdrawals will be re-enabled tomorrow."
The cryptocurrency exchange has been pinning its hopes on a $47 million token offering on Tuesday, June 28, dubbed Recovery Value USD (rvUSD). The purpose of issuing tokens is to try to sell its bad debt after one of its accounts became negative equity.
In a statement on Tuesday, the company said it hoped to restart withdrawals on Thursday, June 30, as previously planned, but acknowledged that this would depend on the token offering being fully subscribed.
As of now, CoinFlex has not updated any information on how many tokens have been subscribed, but Lamb noted on Wednesday that CoinFlex is in talks with several large funds to purchase $47 million in debt.
In a separate interview with MarketWatch, Lamb said the firm has made "significant progress" with its token sale among distressed debt funds, existing clients and investors, adding that there have been tens of millions of dollars in sales. "Soft commitment".
On Thursday, June 23, the crypto investment platform suspended user withdrawals, citing "extreme market conditions" and "uncertainty surrounding a certain counterparty," which was later revealed to be due to a long-standing CoinFlex The customer's account becomes negative equity.
A few days later, CoinFlex CEO Mark Lamb publicly accused “Bitcoin Jesus” Roger Ver on Twitter, claiming that Ver owed the company $47 million after putting his account into negative equity.
That same day, Ver — who did not mention CoinFlex by name — dismissed rumors that he was “delinquent,” instead claiming that the crypto company owed him “a large sum of money.” Ver was an early investor in the exchange with favorable lending terms.
Lamb continued their Twitter spat, saying "the debt is 100% related to his account," adding that his company "categorically denies that we owe him any debt."
CoinFlex's recent woes are just another example of a growing number of crypto investment firms and trading platforms facing liquidity issues amid the ongoing crypto bear market.
Crypto lending platform Celsius Network may face bankruptcy, while crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital just received a default notice from Voyager Digital. The company has also reportedly been ordered liquidated by a court in the British Virgin Islands.