Hong Kong-based crypto lender Babel Finance suspends withdrawals and redemptions to “protect the interests of our clients”, citing “unusual liquidity pressures”
Dear Customers， Recently, the crypto market has seen major fluctuations … Muyao Shen / Bloomberg : Crypto Lender Babel Freezes Withdrawals as Industry Pain Spreads Andrew Rummer / The Block : Babel Finance suspends withdrawals, citing ‘unusual liquidity pressures’ Abdulrasaq Ariwoola / CryptoSlate : Babel Finance suspends withdrawals due to “unusual liquidity pressures” Ogwu Osaemezu Emmanuel / crypto.news : Three Arrows Capital Looking to Sell Its Assets Amidst Ongoing Crypto Markets Bloodbath Luc Olinga / TheStreet : Luna Crash: Crypto Hedge Fund Three Arrows Seeks a Savior CNBC : Babel Finance suspends withdrawals as crypto markets slump Helen Partz / Cointelegraph : Crypto lender Babel Finance halts withdrawals due to liquidity pressures Ali Raza / Inside Bitcoins : Babel Finance suspends redemptions and withdrawals Web3 is going just great : Three Arrows Capital looks for a bailout Ben Schreckinger / Politico : Crypto's hiding-in-plain-sight crisis Andrew Throuvalas / CryptoPotato : Babel Finance Pauses Crypto Withdrawals Following Liquidity Troubles Andrew Throuvalas / Crypto Adventure : Three Arrows Capital (3AC) is Considering Asset Sales and Bailout Options, Confirms Co-Founder Mike Dalton / Crypto Briefing : Babel Finance Halts Withdrawals, Citing Low Liquidity Web3 is going just great : Babel Finance suspends withdrawals and redemptions Tradernap / Coinmonks : Another one bites the dust — Babel Finance Chris Metinko / Crunchbase News : Crypto Lender Babel Finance Freezes Withdrawals André Beganski / Decrypt : Crypto Lending Platform Babel Finance Pauses Withdrawals, Citing ‘Liquidity Pressures’ Wayne Jones / crypto.news : Babel Finance Halts Withdrawals Due to ‘Unusual Liquidity Pressures’ Naga Avan-Nomayo / Ethereum World News : Crypto Lending Giant Babel Finance Halts Redemptions And Withdrawals Katie Canales / Insider : Another crypto lending platform is freezing withdrawals as the industry's downward spiral continues Sahana Vibhute / Coinpedia : After Terra(LUNA), Celsius Network(CEL) & 3AC, Babel Finance in Deep Waters Shiv Juneja / Benzinga : 3 Arrows Capital's Bitcoin And Other Positions Liquidated By FTX, BitMEX and Deribit; Fund Managers Have Gone Silent Vicky Ge Huang / Wall Street Journal : Crypto Has a Crazy Week, With Bitcoin Dropping and Celsius Freezing Paigambar Mohan Raj / watcher.guru : Three Arrows Capital Co-Founder Reveals Plans to Save Company Jwh / Broadcast : 6.17.22 [archives] — Now this is what winter feels like. Bitter, cold, and a constant battering of bad news. The Verge : Three crypto firms are down bad this week, and things may get worse Jacob Carpenter / Fortune : Why Elon Musk's vision for turning Twitter into WeChat is closer to delusional than doable Laurie Dunn / Crypto Daily : Hong Kong Based Babel Finance Freezes Withdrawals As Contagion Spreads The Weekly Update : The Friday Focus: Issue 38 Tweets: @kadhim : Babel Finance, a crypto lender backed by Sequoia and Tiger Global, has suspended withdrawals and redemptions, says it is “facing unusual liquidity pressures” https://babel.finance/... https://twitter.com/... Robert Smith / @bondhack : All the crypto lenders gearing up to margin call one another https://twitter.com/... @alex : Raised last month, worth $2B, now halting customer withdrawals https://babel.finance/... @jason : #cryptocontagion [ FTR: I think there are many great ideas in crypto/web3, but 95% of the projects are scams, run by incompetent people, and/or generally silly. This contagion/crash is going to be hard on many but will be good in the long run. Please be careful with your money ] https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/... Brianna Wu / @briannawu : Good morning, another major crypto bank is halting withdrawals. This one is worth 2 billion. Banking is one of the most tightly regulated industries in America, and you'd go for jail for this if crypto weren't a fraud-for-all. https://babel.finance/... Jacob Silverman / @silvermanjacob : “The firm planned to charge a 20% management fee through an affiliated OTC firm.” “They pitched to so many people” https://www.theblock.co/... Susan Li / @susanlitv : 1 of the largest #Crypto hedge funds #ThreeArrowsCapital has huge losses & is now considering asset sales or a bailout $3 billion in assets as of April Widely believed #Blockfi liquidated their positions on margin calls #Cryptocrash #Cryptocurrency https://www.wsj.com/... Tom Gara / @tomgara : “Just before the downturn Three Arrows said it was making plans to move headquarters to Dubai...The firm operated as a regulated fund manager in Singapore until last year when it shifted domicile to the British Virgin Islands as part of its relocation plan” https://www.wsj.com/... @nycsouthpaw : A crypto bank that named itself after the Tower of Babel is halting withdrawals. https://babel.finance/... https://twitter.com/... Matthew Zeitlin / @mattzeitlin : Gotta imagine these guys are a lot smarter than me but getting caught off guard by crypto being all being correlated with each other? https://www.wsj.com/... https://twitter.com/... Charles Arthur / @charlesarthur : All our apes facing unusual liquidity pressures https://twitter.com/... Laura Shin / @laurashin : WSJ talked with 3AC: “We have always been believers in crypto and we still are,” Kyle Davies, Three Arrows's co-founder, said in an interview. “We are committed to working things out and finding an equitable solution for all our constituent.” https://www.wsj.com/... @demirelo : It looks like 3AC broke the silence. The fallout from Luna will continue to have lasting effects on the broader industry in the near term. https://twitter.com/... Caitlin Ostroff / @ceostroff : Crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital has hired legal and financial advisers to help work out a solution for its investors and lenders, after suffering heavy losses from a broad market selloff in digital assets, the firm's founders said. via @SerenaNgWSJ https://www.wsj.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
Babel Finance’s withdrawal halt marked an acute liquidity break at a lender backed by Sequoia and Tiger Global. Follow-up coverage says Babel later reached preliminary repayment agreements on some debts, tying customer access directly to its creditor negotiations.
The episode sits in a widening 2022 stress cycle: Singapore-based exchange Zipmex subsequently suspended withdrawals amid volatile markets. The common operational response made liquidity management, rather than lending growth, the immediate test for crypto finance firms.
First-order effects
- Babel customers lose access to withdrawals and redemptions while the company preserves liquidity and works through debt repayments.
- Babel’s creditors become central to restoring normal operations, since the lender has identified repayment terms as a source of liquidity relief.
Second-order effects
- Crypto lenders and exchanges facing similar market stress are pressured to protect available liquidity, as Zipmex’s later withdrawal suspension illustrates.
- Backers including Sequoia and Tiger Global face greater scrutiny of the liquidity controls at a portfolio company whose clients cannot redeem funds.
Third-order effects
- Repeated withdrawal freezes risk deepening crypto finance’s credibility gap around lender liquidity, shifting competitive advantage toward firms able to demonstrate dependable redemption access.
- If suspensions become a recurring response to market volatility, lenders’ funding and customer-retention models will be shaped more by confidence in liquidity management than by credit expansion.
The trend: Crypto-market stress is exposing a legitimacy gap in lender and exchange liquidity models, with customer withdrawals becoming the key pressure point.