Banq, a subsidiary of crypto custodian Prime Belief, filed for chapter within the U.S. District Court docket of Nevada on June 13. Banq makes a speciality of cost processing for cryptocurrency companies.
Within the chapter submitting, the agency listed belongings of $17.72 million and liabilities amounting to $5.4 million.
The timing of the chapter submitting is notable, coming lower than per week after Prime Belief’s mother or father firm, Prime Core Applied sciences, was acquired by crypto custodian BitGo, pending regulatory approvals.
The acquisition might doubtlessly affect the way forward for Banq and its relationship with Prime Belief.
“Unauthorized switch” of $17.5 million
Within the chapter submitting, Banq revealed that $17.5 million of its belongings have been despatched to Fortress NFT Group in an “unauthorized switch,” which can have contributed to the corporate’s monetary troubles.
The submitting additional revealed that the unauthorized switch by former Banq officers additionally included commerce secrets and techniques and proprietary info.
Fortress NFT Group was based by Banq’s former CEO, CTO, and CPO.
Banq has instigated authorized motion over allegations that the previous C-suite staff stole commerce secrets and techniques to launch Fortress NFT and engaged in fraud to cowl their tracks.
In January, the courtroom ordered all events to resolve the matter in arbitration, which remains to be ongoing and will affect Banq’s chapter final result.
Prime Belief’s struggles
Prime Belief’s troubles started when Celsius sued the custodian in 2022 for allegedly withholding $17 million.
Stablecoin TrueUSD (TUSD), which makes use of Prime Belief as a banking associate, stated final week that it was halting TUSD minting on Prime Belief till additional discover.
TUSD briefly misplaced its greenback peg following the announcement, inflicting concern amongst buyers – however recovered its peg value inside three days.
Following TUSD’s announcement, customers reported points with TUSD redemption, although the workforce assured operations have been positive.