Cryptocurrency exchange WOO has announced its decision to buy back the shares and tokens that were previously acquired by the now-defunct hedge fund, Three Arrows Capital (3AC).
A statement from WOO reveals it made an agreement with Teneo, the liquidator of 3AC. This allows the repurchase of shares and tokens that 3AC had acquired during WOO’s Series A funding round back in November 2021.
Jack Tan, WOO’s Co-founder, said: “We are pleased to clear the uncertainty related to 3AC from the WOO ecosystem. We proactively collaborated with the liquidators to secure a fair deal to repurchase our shares and both vested and vesting tokens from 3AC’s estate.”
Woo buys back from 3AC
In the 2021 Series A fundraising round, 3AC had become WOO’s most substantial investor, purchasing both equity and 25 million WOO tokens.
WOO’s recent statement reveals that the buyback was executed as the assets were available at an attractive discount, allowing WOO to break off its remaining ties with 3AC and its associated creditors.
Following the repurchase, WOO will cancel 3AC’s shares, which will see increased ownership for the remaining shareholders. As for the tokens, the exchange has decided to send the 20 million repurchased tokens to a burn address, effectively removing them from circulation.
“The past 18 months have seen a concentration of bad news hit our industry from large-scale failures to more overzealous regulators. A thorough cleansing of the system has taken place and we are looking forward to rebuilding with our partners and team,” said Tan.
The co-founder also believes that this repurchase will enable WOO to set a more focused growth path for the upcoming year.
3AC fallout
Based in Singapore, 3AC was once among the leading crypto hedge funds, managing around $10billion in assets at its peak. However, a sharp decline in cryptocurrency values in 2022 and some high-risk trading decisions resulted in the hedge fund’s eventual collapse.
It had significant exposure to the Luna ($LUNC) crash last year and was forced to liquidate soon after.
Documents from that period show that 3AC had debts amounting to at least $3.5bn owed to its primary creditors.
Su Zhu’s Arrest
Photographs were released last week showing the arrest of 3AC co-founder Su Zhu at Singapore Changi airport.
In a statement from Teneo, it revealed that Zhu was handed a committal order. This action was taken after Zhu failed to cooperate with Teneo’s liquidation investigation, despite being legally mandated by a Singapore court order.
Teneo said: “The joint liquidators had applied for and obtained the committal order against Mr Zhu on 25 September 2023 as a consequence of his deliberate failure to comply with a court order obtained which, in essence, compelled him to cooperate with the liquidators investigations and account for his activities as one of the founders of 3AC and its former investment manager.”
As a result, Zhu now faces a four-month prison sentence. This was later confirmed by Singapore police, who later confirmed the arrest of the “36-year-old man”.
