Collapsed South Korean cryptocurrency lending platform Haru Invest has pledged to gradually refund user assets, although the CEO admits timelines remain unclear given ongoing legal issues.
Haru Invest filed bankruptcy last month after halting withdrawals, leaving an estimated 60,000 users unable to access investments worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
But in a statement, Haru CEO Hugo Lee said the company aims to distribute assets fairly between Korean and international users once various proceedings conclude.
Logistical Challenges With Asset Distribution
According to Lee, Haru Invest currently cannot execute an asset repayment plan due to several constraints:
- Ongoing legal actions, including restructuring procedures in Korean courts
- Cooperation with investigative authorities still underway
- Minimal current business operations, with the site login disabled
Lee stated that despite the intention to reimburse harmed users, “the asset distribution schedule is impossible at this time” given these hurdles.
Another Major Korean Crypto Lender Collapse
Haru Invest accumulated over 60,000 users and processed trades worth $2.27 billion before its August 2022 downfall.
The company is the second significant crypto lending platform failure in South Korea this year after Delio also halted activities in June.
While Delio aims to compensate users, uncertainties around asset recovery timelines persist there as well.
These parallel collapses have damaged trust in South Korea’s once booming crypto lending industry. But Haru Invest’s pledge offers a small glimmer of eventual hope, despite no clear timeline given legal and liquidity complexities.
For now, affected users face an agonizing wait amid the ruins of yet another spectacular crypto lending implosion.
