Hope or nothing: Babel Finance’s creditors face a tough choice

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Hello reader,

I’ve said this in past editions of the newsletter and I’ll say it again now: I’m not someone with the biggest risk appetite.

If I were to ever go to a casino (and I haven’t – the most gambling I’ve done is with friends during the Lunar New Year), I’d put a hard limit to the amount of loss I’d be willing to take before calling it a day. It wouldn’t be a very high figure, either – maybe S$200 at most.

So after reading today’s premium article about embattled Babel Finance’s offer to pay back creditors – get nothing or rely on a new and not-yet-stable stablecoin – you bet your sweet bippy I’d just get the hell out of Dodge.

But of course, not everyone thinks like me. Read on and see which way you’d go if you were in their shoes.

Today we look at:

• How Babel Finance creditors are stuck between a rock and a hard place
• A chopstick recycler’s expansion plans after raising US$7.7 million
• Other newsy highlights such as TikTok’s latest battle and Apple finally landing in India

Premium summary

Naming it Hope is really a little too on the nose, come on

Image credit: Timmy Loen

As a virtual noob to the cryptocurrency scene, I wonder what it is that keeps the believers going. It’s been about a full year of massive collapses and scandals; why do people keep going back? It almost sounds like some kind of toxic, abusive relationship.

However, I must – again and always – qualify my opinions with the fact that I’m far from being a crypto expert. Maybe there really are good reasons to keep the faith.

Anyway, for Babel Finance creditors, that faith will be tested with this latest offer from the firm’s co-founder, Yang Zhou.

• A dog called Hope: The offer? Liquidate and get nothing, or accept a deal that relies on Hope, a new and not-yet-stable stablecoin named developed by Yang during his time away from the company.
• Cleaning up another’s mess: The offer might sound really dubious coming from the firm’s co-founder, but Yang wasn’t responsible for the hole Babel finds itself in. Court documents allege that co-founder Wang Li, who was removed as CEO in December 2022, was responsible for the losses.
• Three steps to becoming stable: Yang outlined a three-stage plan to transition Hope from a Bitcoin- and Ether-backed, quasi-algorithmic stablecoin to a fully backed stablecoin. This transition is likely to take three years.

Everybody do the chop chop

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