Nexo hires Citibank to advise on acquisitions during market turmoil

Published at: June 23, 2022

Crypto lending platform Nexo says that its strong balance sheet means it can ride to the rescue to provide liquidity during the current market turmoil by acquiring the assets of struggling crypto firms.

In a blog post, Nexo announced that it is currently receiving advice from banking giant Citigroup on how best to acquire the assets of insolvent crypto firms so that investors can regain access to blocked funds.

Last week Antoni Trenchev, co-founder and managing partner at Nexo, told Bloomberg that the current crypto crash reminds him of the Panic of 1907 — where major Wall Street institutions were forced to bail out other struggling firms:

“This reminds me, quite frankly, of the 1907 bank panic where JP Morgan was forced to step in with his own funds and then rally all those guys that were solvent to fix the situation.”

In the blog post, Nexo boasted that it had always run a sustainable business model that didn’t engage in risky lending practices, as a result, it now occupies a position of “unmatched stability,” meaning that it is uniquely placed to step into the breach to help shore up struggling firms:

“The crypto space is about to enter a phase of mass consolidation which has already begun with the remaining solvent players, like Nexo, expressing their readiness to acquire the assets of companies with solvency issues in order to supply immediate liquidity to their clients and relief to the entire industry.”

The post revealed that Nexo has already made contact with a number of struggling crypto firms in private, offering up different ways to provide liquidity assistance.

On June 13, Nexo publicly announced that it was prepared to acquire some of Celsius’ outstanding loans, following revelations that the fellow lending platform was suffering a major liquidity crisis.

On the same day, Nexo (NEXO) plunged nearly 25%, falling to a new yearly low of $0.61 per token as fears of major decentralized finance (DeFi) contagion echoed through the market.

Three days later, contagion fears were reignited as investment firm 3 Arrows Capital (3AC) failed to meet margin calls — suffering a loss of $400M in liquidations across multiple positions. Nexo says it doesn’t have any exposure to 3AC.

Unlike many other embattled firms, Nexo has 100% liquidity to meet its $4.96 billion worth of debt obligations, according to United States-based audit firm Armanino.

Since the major drawdown on June 13, NEXO’s price has stabilized and is currently trading for $0.65, according to data from TradingView.