Zipmex Confirms Loans Worth $53M to Babel and Celsius

Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Zipmex said Thursday in a Facebook post offering further details on a deposit-withdrawal pause announced earlier this week that it lent money to the troubled crypto lenders Babel Finance and Celsius.

According to the Facebook post, the Zipmex exchange’s current exposure to Babel is $48 million, with an additional $5 million to Celsius, which filed for bankruptcy last week.

Sources told CoinDesk on Wednesday that Zipmex lent as much as $100 million from a high-yielding program known as ZipUp to Babel, but a Babel spokesperson subsequently said that the loan was far smaller, while not disclosing the exact amount.

Both Babel Finance and Celsius suspended withdrawals in June amid market volatility.

Zipmex, which made headlines Wednesday for freezing withdrawals amid financial difficulties, said that “resulting financial difficulties of our key business partners” amid market volatility were part of the reason for the decision.

“Ever since the black swan events surrounding the crypto space, Zipmex has retrieved the majority of our funds and assets that were historically deposited with our deployment partners and have been actively working to resolve the situation for the remaining outstanding assets,” according to the statement.

The exchange plans to write off the $5 million loan to Celsius and is in discussion with Babel to evaluate its options to resolve the issue, Zipmex wrote.