CoinFlex CEO says Bitcoin.com founder Roger Ver owes company $47 million
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinflex stopped withdrawing last week after one of its investors failed to repay a $47 million loan. Now CoinFlex CEO Mark Lamb says the investor is Roger Ver, founder of the Bitcoin.com exchange.
"Personally, Roger is the entity we owe money to," Lamb told Fortune. "He owes us $47 million."
On Tuesday at 1:11 p.m., Mr. Lamb also tweeted the complaint.
"Roger Ver owes CoinFlex $47 million USDC," Lamb wrote. “He has a written agreement with us that requires him to personally guarantee any negative equity in his CoinFlex account and regularly replenish the margin.
You have breached this agreement and we have sent a notice of breach.”
In an earlier tweet at 12:34 p.m. Tuesday, Ver denied "rumors" that he had defaulted on the loan, though he did not name Coinflex or Lamb directly.
“Recently, there have been some rumors that I have defaulted on a loan with an opponent. These rumors are false. Not only am I indebted to this counterparty, but this counterparty owes me a substantial sum of money and I am currently seeking my funds back," Ver wrote.
Lamb tells Fortune he doesn't know what Ver is referring to, saying CoinFlex doesn't owe Ver any money.
“You have no funds in Coinflex. We owe you no funds. He owes us $47 million,” Lamb said. "We have filed a notice of default and will do our best to settle this debt."
Vere did not immediately respond to Fortune's request for comment on Lamb's allegations.
A major downturn in cryptocurrency has created significant liquidity problems for several companies. In addition to CoinFlex, notable crypto lenders Celsius Network and Babel Finance have also recently stopped withdrawals. Cryptocurrency hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) is also facing liquidity problems, which have affected other crypto firms.
After stopping withdrawals last week, CoinFlex announced that it will issue tokens starting tomorrow and offer a 20% annual return called "USD Recovery Value" that will be sold only to non-US residential investors. The timing of when CoinFlex will resume withdrawals depends on how much it raises during the token sale, the CEO said.
"Our goal here is to make as much information publicly available as possible, and work with our customers, investors and the broader crypto community to find a solution that will already recover customer withdrawals and our follow-on loans," Lamb told Fortune. "If we can raise these funds in the form of loans, we can solve this problem, eliminate this problem in the short term."
Despite being publicly accused of lending Vere $47 million to CoinFlex, Lamb is optimistic about the industry as a whole.
"I feel very confident about cryptocurrency," he said.
June 28, 2022 - This story has been updated to reflect that Roger Ver is the founder of Bitcoin.com.