Zipmex
BankruptExchange · born 2018 · ✝ 2022
Contagion from Babel and Celsius froze its withdrawals.
Zipmex was a Southeast-Asian crypto exchange that froze withdrawals in 2022 after exposure to lenders Babel Finance and Celsius during that year's contagion. It entered restructuring in Singapore as it tried to plug the gap.
- Peak
- ~$100M+ frozen
- Cause
- Bankrupt
- Year of death
- 2022
☠️ Cause of death
Funds lent into Babel Finance and Celsius became unrecoverable when those firms collapsed, leaving Zipmex unable to honor withdrawals.
📓 Lessons left behind
- —Exchanges quietly lending customer deposits import others' risk.
- —Counterparty contagion spreads fast through a small lender network.
- —Disclose where customer funds actually sit.
🌱 The idea that survived
Proof of reserves
Strengthened the case for exchanges to prove holdings and disclose any rehypothecation of customer assets.
#exchange#contagion#insolvency#rehypothecation