Three Arrows Capital (3AC) is being investigated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 3AC is a Singapore-based crypto fund that filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy on July 1.
US regulators investigate Three Arrows Capital
A report by Bloomberg quoted people familiar with the matter who confirmed that the CFTC and the SEC were investigating whether 3AC violated rules by giving investors false information about the strength of the fund’s balance sheet and its failure to register with the regulatory bodies.
3AC was among the largest crypto funds globally before filing for bankruptcy. In March 2022, Nansen blockchain analytics company estimated that 3AC had around $10 billion in assets under management. It is estimated that the fund owes $3.5 billion to creditors after its collapse.
The collapse of 3AC is associated with the fund’s massive exposure to the collapsed Terra Luna and TerraUSD tokens. When Terra Luna went under in May, it caused ripple effects across the crypto sector as major crypto players filed for bankruptcy, including 3AC, Voyager Digital, and Celsius.
While speaking to the Wall Street Journal, one of the co-founders of 3AC, Kyle Davies, revealed that the crypto fund had invested more than $200 million in LUNA as part of a $1 billion funding by the Luna Foundation Guard earlier this year. That amount became worthless after LUNA crumbled.
3AC was also one of the largest investors in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). GBTC is an institutional Bitcoin Product offered by the world’s largest digital asset manager. However, the product has also been affected by this year’s crypto decline, given that Bitcoin has lost nearly two-thirds of its value.
Before its demise, 3AC had a presence in multiple countries. Therefore, besides the US regulators, the crypto fund is also being investigated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
A filing by the MAS said that the crypto fund did not conduct due diligence to authenticate the information it provided and ensure that it was not false or misleading. Additionally, it failed to disclose the changes in directors and shareholders and breached its Assets Under Management (AUM) threshold.
Liquidation of Three Arrows Capital
The liquidation of Three Arrows Capital is currently underway. The liquidation has already seen some of the company’s assets being moved. These assets include collections of blue-chip non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that were transferred to the possession of Teneo, a business advisory company spearheading the Chapter 15 bankruptcy proceeding. The NFTs in question include CryptoPunks.
The investigations into the company have been hindered because of the unavailability of the company’s founders, Zhu Su and Kyle Davies. The two were Columbia University classmates and founded the company in 2012. However, their current location remains unknown.
The unavailability of the two has led to a Singapore-based judge issuing their subpoenas on Twitter and through emails. Nevertheless, it remains to be seen whether they will honor the subpoenas and appear in court as the investigations continue.
US-based regulators are currently busy with several bankruptcy proceedings, including Celsius. Celsius filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July and is set to undergo restructuring. Several US state regulators are investigating the DeFi lending platform.
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