Babel Finance

Babel Finance was established in 2018 by co-founders Flex Yang and Delbert Wang, with the ambition of creating a crypto financial services firm comparable to traditional institutions like JP Morgan. Yang, who had a background in financial auditing, and Wang, who previously founded a Ripple-based payment system and a micro-financing data platform after a career at ICBC, launched the business during the challenging crypto market of 2018. Their initial focus was on the crypto lending business, specifically targeting miners in China to whom they offered loans in stablecoins against cryptocurrency collateral.

The company provides crypto financial services to institutional investors, high-net-worth individuals, and family offices. Its primary business lines include crypto lending, asset management, and crypto prime services. Revenue was generated through the net interest margin on its lending activities and intermediary fees from its trading business. The product suite included cryptocurrency-backed loans, structured asset management, prime brokerage, and derivatives strategies. For select clients, the firm offered Babel PRIVATE, a service tier providing crypto asset management, legal and taxation services, and family office consulting.

At its peak, Babel Finance served approximately 500 clients and managed a loan balance exceeding US$3 billion. The firm achieved significant milestones, including a Series A funding round of US$40 million in May 2021 and a Series B round of US$80 million in May 2022, which brought its valuation to US$2 billion. Key investors included prominent firms like Sequoia Capital China, Tiger Global Management, and Dragonfly Capital. However, in June 2022, amid extreme market volatility, the company suspended client withdrawals and redemptions, citing severe liquidity pressures. It was later revealed that the firm had incurred substantial losses, reportedly over US$280 million in Bitcoin and Ether, from proprietary trading activities using customer funds. In March 2023, Babel Finance filed for a moratorium in Singapore to begin a formal restructuring process. The proposed recovery plan involves the creation of a "Babel Recovery Coin" to raise funds and repay creditors.

Keywords: crypto financial services, institutional crypto, crypto lending, digital asset management, crypto trading, prime brokerage, Delbert Wang, Flex Yang, crypto-backed loans, structured products, Babel PRIVATE, crypto restructuring, Babel Recovery Coin, crypto derivatives, bitcoin lending, ethereum trading, stablecoin loans, high-net-worth crypto, institutional digital assets, crypto asset services, financial services for crypto