The Singapore government has charged the former CEO of popular cryptocurrency exchange Hodlnaut with six counts of fraud. This is due to the false representation resulting from the company’s collapse during the market fluctuations of 2022.
The collapse of UST in early May 2022 led to losses in the cryptocurrency sector. Hodlnaut has not been ruled out. The company invested $317 million from its user accounts in Anchor Protocol on Terra without disclosing these details to customers, and when UST went down, they suffered losses of $189.7 million.
The collapse of Hodlnaut and the CEO’s hand in it
Hodlnaut was founded in April 2019 as an online platform that enabled people globally to deposit their Bitcoin, Ethereum, and stablecoin holdings in exchange for interest payments. Simon Li and Zhou Juntao served as co-founders of Hodlnaut.
In this regard, Zhou Juntao, a 36-year-old Singaporean, studied at Singapore Management University and has experience working at Credit Suisse. Under his leadership, Hodlnaut has grown into a company with over 30,000 clients, generating up to 10% APY, and managing approximately $750 million in investments.
Following Terra’s collapse, Hodlnaut suspended customer withdrawal requests in June 2022 and eventually entered judicial administration. When the platform shut down in August 2022, the company had an estimated $281 million owed to its users, while its assets totaled $88 million, resulting in a deficit of approximately $193 million.
As a simple yield generator in the emerging world of DeFi, Hodlnaut attracted investors who wanted to profit from it encryption Without the complex processes involved in transactions.
Poor public relations management and false promises to customers
the Prosecution He claims that Zhu Juntao instructed his employees to make false promises during and after the collapse of UST. From May to July 2022, Cho allegedly incited his employee, named Goh Chang Teck, to make false promises in the official Hodlnaut Telegram chat group.
In one such case, which took place before May 25, 2022, he allegedly made a false promise that there would be no direct Company involvement in LUNA or UST and that none of the Company’s funds were invested in these assets.
Zhu also allegedly instructed Megan Lois employee Lau Shi May, to send an email to approximately 30 users in 2022. The email stated that Hodlnaut did not suffer any losses as a company, although users who trade UST on the platform did suffer those losses.
Furthermore, Zhou himself posted three times in June 2022 on his personal account X (formerly Twitter). Some of these included: “Hodlnaut as a company did not incur any losses on UST, and the users who held/bought UST on our platform did so,” “They missed this opportunity but did not get exposed to the $UST price or suffer any losses from the debacle,” among others.
The charges are pending, habeas corpus, and maximum prison sentences
Cho appeared in court on 26 May 2026, when he was formally charged with six counts of fraud by false representation under Section 424A(1)(a) read with Section 424A(3) of the Penal Code 1871.
There were three additional charges under Section 109 relating to incitement. He pleaded not guilty and contested all charges. A pretrial hearing is set for June 2026.
If Zhou is found guilty of any of the charges, he could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison, pay a fine, or both. The Singapore Police used this case to issue general warnings to the public about investing in digital assets, given its severity Volatility And other factors.
