James Ding
Could 26, 2026 11:09
Singapore’s former Hodlnaut CEO faces six fraud fees tied to deceptive statements concerning the platform’s publicity to the $45B Terra ecosystem crash.
Singapore has charged former Hodlnaut CEO Zhu Juntao with six counts of fraud, alleging he made deceptive statements concerning the firm’s publicity to the 2022 TerraUSD (UST) collapse. The fees, introduced on Could 26, 2026, comply with a prolonged investigation by Singapore’s Business Affairs Division.
Zhu, 36, is accused of directing Hodlnaut staff to falsely declare in firm communications that the platform had no direct publicity to UST or losses from its Could 2022 crash. These statements, reportedly issued by way of Telegram and e mail between Could and July 2022, stand in stark distinction to judicial findings that Hodlnaut suffered $190 million in UST-linked losses. Zhu additionally allegedly revealed related claims on his private Twitter account (now X) in June 2022.
If convicted, Zhu faces as much as 20 years in jail, fines, or each for every fraud cost below Singapore’s Penal Code. The case provides to the fallout from one in every of crypto’s most infamous occasions—the implosion of Terra’s algorithmic stablecoin, which erased roughly $45 billion in market worth inside days. Terra co-founder Do Kwon was sentenced to fifteen years in jail in December 2025 for his function within the collapse.
Hodlnaut’s Downfall: A Nearer Look
Hodlnaut, as soon as a preferred Singapore-based crypto lending platform with over 30,000 customers, grew to become one other casualty of the Terra crash. The platform suspended withdrawals in August 2022 after revealing important publicity to the UST ecosystem. Hodlnaut later entered liquidation, with court-appointed managers now overseeing its belongings.
The collapse of UST, which triggered a dying spiral with its paired token LUNA, set off a broader contagion within the crypto lending sector. Celsius Community and Voyager Digital, each working on related enterprise fashions to Hodlnaut, additionally filed for chapter in 2022, leaving customers with billions in frozen belongings. The Terra fallout uncovered the systemic dangers of overleveraged lending tied to risky crypto belongings.
Terra’s Legacy in 2026
4 years after the crash, Terra’s ecosystem stays a shadow of its former self. As of Could 26, 2026, Terra 2.0 (LUNA) trades at $0.062092, whereas TerraClassicUSD (USTC) has collapsed to $0.00607067, far beneath its supposed $1 peg. The $429 million market cap of Terra 2.0 displays a fraction of the billions worn out in Could 2022.
Regardless of occasional rallies, together with a current surge tied to Binance’s burning of 923 million LUNA Traditional tokens, the ecosystem’s credibility has been irreparably broken. Regulatory scrutiny has intensified globally, with Singapore taking a lead in prosecuting people tied to the collapse.
The case in opposition to Zhu Juntao underscores the rising authorized dangers for crypto executives accused of deceptive buyers. As investigations into 2022’s market failures proceed, additional fees in opposition to insiders throughout the trade stay doable.
Picture supply: Shutterstock
