CoinDesk
Singapore prosecutors charged former Hodlnaut CEO Zhu Juntao on Tuesday with six counts of fraud by false representation, accusing him of directing staff to publish false statements on the firm's Telegram channels and in customer emails claiming Hodlnaut had no direct exposure to the May 2022 collapse of TerraUSD. The Singapore Police Force announcement alleges the same misrepresentations were repeated in three posts on Zhu's personal X account in June 2022. Zhu disputed all six charges in court and was given a pre-trial conference date in June 2026. Each count carries a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison, fines, or both under Singapore law.
Why it matters
Court-appointed judicial managers later estimated Hodlnaut lost roughly $189.7 million from its Terra exposure, after the firm had channeled about $317 million of user funds into Terra's Anchor Protocol — which was offering around 19.5% annualized yield on UST deposits in the run-up to the collapse. Restructuring reports also flagged poor internal recordkeeping and incomplete cooperation from some executives, both of which are likely to feature in the prosecution's case. The charges turn what had been a civil liquidation fight into a criminal exposure for a top Asian crypto lender's former chief, more than three and a half years after withdrawals were frozen in August 2022.
Market impact
Hodlnaut is one of several crypto lenders that failed in the wake of Terraform Labs' algorithmic stablecoin implosion, an event that erased roughly $40 billion from the crypto market and contributed to failures at Three Arrows Capital, Celsius, and Voyager. The Singapore case lands alongside ongoing US and Korean proceedings against former Terraform Labs executives and is the most direct criminal action yet against a lender-side principal. The read for the industry: post-collapse misrepresentations about stablecoin or yield-protocol exposure are now prosecutable as fraud in a major Asian hub, with penalties that scale to life-altering prison time per count. Watch the June 2026 pre-trial conference for the next procedural beat and any plea developments.
Frequently asked questions
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What did former Hodlnaut CEO Zhu Juntao get charged with?
Singapore prosecutors charged him with six counts of fraud by false representation, alleging he directed staff to publish false claims on Telegram and in customer emails that Hodlnaut had no direct exposure to the May 2022 TerraUSD collapse. Similar claims were repeated in three posts on his personal X account in June…
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How much did Hodlnaut lose from the Terra collapse?
Court-appointed judicial managers estimated Hodlnaut lost roughly $189.7 million from its Terra exposure. The firm had channeled about $317 million of user funds into Terra's Anchor Protocol, which was offering around 19.5% annualized yield on UST deposits before the collapse.
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What penalty does Zhu Juntao face if convicted?
Each of the six fraud counts carries a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison, fines, or both under Singapore law. Zhu disputed all six charges in court and was given a pre-trial conference date in June 2026.
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When did Hodlnaut freeze withdrawals and what happened to the firm?
Hodlnaut halted withdrawals in August 2022, later entered judicial management, and was ordered into liquidation by the Singapore High Court. Founded in 2019, the Singapore-based lender had served more than 30,000 users globally before the freeze.
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Where does the Hodlnaut case sit among other Terra-collapse prosecutions?
The Singapore charges land alongside ongoing US and Korean proceedings against former Terraform Labs executives and represent the most direct criminal action yet against a lender-side principal. The broader Terra collapse erased roughly $40 billion from the crypto market and contributed to failures at Three Arrows…
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