ED freezes $46.50 million assets of Singapore-based crypto exchange Vauld

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has blocked the assets of Singapore-based crypto exchange Vauld, which is worth around $46.50 million. The ED said these assets are in bank accounts, balances of payment gateways and wallets on the FlipVolt crypto exchange. In this case, raids were conducted at many places related to the firm. Earlier this month, ED froze nearly $8 million in assets of crypto exchange WazirX.

The Vauld is facing difficulties due to various reasons. The firm had said that it is also looking at restructuring options. For this, along with the appointment of financial advisor, legal advisors have also been appointed by the firm. Vault has also started discussions with potential investors.

Regarding the crypto firm Vauld, the ED said, “These are proceeds of crime due to erroneous lending methods. The cryptocurrency purchased from it was transferred to an undisclosed foreign crypto wallet address.” The ED said that the assets attached to Vauld’s firm in India will be released only after giving full details of the funds. Vauld banned user transactions on its platform in June following a sharp drop in stablecoin TeraUSD.

Earlier crypto lending firm Celsius Network had banned the transactions of customers. Celsius had said that due to the poor state of the crypto market, it is prohibiting withdrawals and transfers between accounts. The US-headquartered firm’s decision to freeze the transaction is being investigated by some regulators, including the Texas State Security Board. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had also sought information from the firm in this regard.