Singapore crypto lender Hodlnaut froze withdrawals in August 2022 after losing about US$190 million in the TerraUSD collapse it had downplayed, and in May 2026 co-founder and ex-CEO Zhu Juntao was charged with six counts of fraud.
Hodlnaut was founded in April 2019 by Zhu Juntao and Simon Lee, offering retail users interest on deposits of bitcoin, ether and stablecoins. It generated returns by lending deposits to institutions and deploying them into yield products, and at its height claimed to serve more than 30,000 users globally. Behind the marketing, the firm had converted a large share of its assets into TerraUSD, the algorithmic stablecoin, early in 2022, chasing the rich yields of the Terra ecosystem's Anchor Protocol.
When TerraUSD imploded in May 2022, Hodlnaut suffered losses of roughly US$189.7 million, according to court filings. Instead of coming clean, the company's directors allegedly downplayed the extent of the exposure both before and after the collapse. On August 8, 2022, the platform suspended withdrawals, deposits and token swaps, citing difficult market conditions, and withdrew its licensing application to the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Days later it slashed 80 per cent of its workforce, about 40 people.
The Singapore High Court placed the firm under interim judicial management, appointing EY partners Angela Ee and Aaron Loh. Their reports alleged that more than 1,000 documents had been deleted from the company's Google Workspace, and that key records relating to its Hong Kong arm, which owed about US$58 million to the Singapore entity, could not be obtained. Creditors rejected a restructuring plan, and on November 10, 2023 the court ordered the company wound up, leaving more than 17,000 creditors facing heavy losses. The lender also had US$13.3 million in crypto trapped on the collapsed FTX exchange.
The criminal reckoning arrived on May 26, 2026, when Zhu was charged with six counts of fraud by false representation. Police alleged he had instigated employees in 2022 to post statements on Telegram and in official emails claiming Hodlnaut had no direct exposure to TerraUSD and had suffered no losses from its crash, and had posted similar claims on his personal social media account. Each charge carries up to 20 years' imprisonment. Zhu pleaded not guilty.
For Singapore's retail crypto investors, Hodlnaut became the local face of the 2022 digital-asset winter: a homegrown platform whose reassuring public statements masked a catastrophic hidden bet.
The lender's downfall also ensnared prominent institutional creditors, including the Algorand Foundation, underscoring that even sophisticated players had been taken in. Liquidators continue to chase recoveries, but have warned creditors to expect only a fraction of their deposits back.