As per the recent report, cryptocurrency lender Babel Finance is laying off a number of key personnel, two weeks after putting a halt to client withdrawals and five weeks after securing $80 million in new investment.
The other is Yulong Liu, head of international relations, who according to a source familiar with the matter, intends to leave later this month or early next month. Liu routinely spoke on behalf of Babel at open forums and provided an interview with The Block last month when the company received $80 million at a $2 billion valuation. He recently updated his LinkedIn profile to reflect that he quit Babel this month and that he has since erased it.
For almost three years, Liu was employed by Babel Finance. He worked hard to bring in new partners for the company as the head of partnerships, including depositors and borrowers. Liu is still employed at Babel, according to a company official who declined to comment on his impending departure.Many of the comment questions were not answered by Liu.
Babel Finance, a Hong Kong-based company founded in 2018, claims to have 500 institutional clients for whom it offers lending and trading services. By the end of 2021, the company will have loans totaling more than $3 billion, with an average monthly trading volume of $800 million in liquidation, according to the most recent financial reports.
Babel is in a financial bind as a result of Liu’s anticipated departure. It stopped allowing client withdrawals on June 17 because of “exceptional liquidity pressures.” Three days later, the company announced it had made “preliminary agreements on the repayment time of some debts” with significant clients and counterparties, “which has reduced the company’s immediate financial burden.”
Babel has not provided any more updates since. Client funds are still frozen.
Read more: Crypto lender Babel Finance temporarily halts crypto withdrawal amid downturn in the crypto market
