Titans’ crypto sponsor owes $73m
GOLD Coast Titans sponsor TrigonX owes creditors more than $73m with one of its key backers suing the crypto currency firm’s co-founders for a return of its multimillion-dollar investment.
Trigon, which is the latest Australian crypto trading firm to hit the wall following the collapse of global giant FTX, called in administrators this month amid the growing chaos in the market for bitcoin and other virtual currencies.
According to documents lodged with the Australian Securities & Investments Commission by administrators William Robson and William Cotter, King River Digital Assets is owed $31m, Pacifika Consortium $26m and ADG Digital $16m.
King River, a tech venture capital investor, is now suing Trigon co-founder and director Matteo Salerno in the NSW Supreme Court for breach of duties in relation to US dollar funds held by the crypto platform on its behalf.
According to documents, the amount being claimed by King River includes $US10.9m ($16.17m) held in the Trigon US dollar bank account.
A spokesman for Mr Salerno denied any allegation of wrongdoing and said the director had acted quickly and in the best interests of all creditors of Trigon. “This combative action by King River Capital threatens to disadvantage all creditors and attempts to shift blame from FTX to other innocent trading partners in the sector,” the spokesmansaid.
“The decision to place Trigon into voluntary administration was made out of an abundance of caution in order to protect a small class of creditors that were impacted by the downfall of FTX.”
He said it was Mr Salerno’s intention to achieve a speedy and optimum outcome to creditors through a deed of company arrangement that was to be put to creditors in the new year. TrigonX was named a Gold Coast Titans sponsor in November last year.
Another Australian crypto exchange, Digital Surge, which also collapsed this month, is owed $33m by FTX. FTX has been in bankruptcy proceedings in the US since November and owes more than $US3bn.