The CEO of the crypto claims trading platform, Open Exchange (OPNX), has lambasted a number of alleged Open Exchange (OPNX) investors after some publicly distanced themselves from the project after being named as backers.
Leslie Lamb, CEO of OPNX, tweeted on April 22 that the firms’ behavior was “disgusting” and “disappointing,” adding that they “want all the upside with little to no risk.”
“I’m here to remind everyone, if it isn’t already clear, that’s not how entrepreneurship works,” Lamb added. Kyle Davies and Su Zhu, the founders of the failed crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC), founded OPNX, a bankruptcy claims firm.
On April 21, OPNX posted a video of Lamb thanking a number of “major investors” for their support, which sparked the drama. AppWorks, Susquehanna (SIG), DRW, MIAX Group, China Merchant Bank International, Token Bay Capital Nascent, and Tuwaiq Limited were among the investors identified by OPNX.
Almost half of the stated backers now claim they never chose to donate funding to OPNX and deny any and all ties to the company. Nascent, a decentralized finance (DeFi) trading firm, was the first to officially disclaim support, claiming that while it purchased Coinflex (FLEX) tokens created by the company’s previous form, it did not participate in a funding round for OPNX.
Appworks, a Taiwan-based venture capital firm, took to Twitter on April 22 to clarify its investment position, stating that its funding had been “forcibly converted” from its initial holdings in CoinFLEX and that they “do not support what [Davies and Zu] did during the last days of 3AC.”
Furthermore, upon distancing itself from the exchange, capital market company DRW Trading did not mince words, writing flatly that it is “not an investor in OPNX.” According to TradingView data, FLEX, the principal token of OPNX, has dropped more than 21% since the public quarrel began.
Susquehanna (SIG), MIAX Group, and China Merchant were approached by Cointelegraph for clarity on their investments in OPNX, but did not receive a fast answer. According to the pitch deck for OPNX, which was first distributed in January, the platform will allow investors to buy and sell claims on bankrupt cryptocurrency enterprises such as 3AC and FTX.
Unlike other claims market organizations, OPNX claims to allow users to use claims as trading collateral. Furthermore, the company asserted that it might “fill the power vacuum left by FTX” and expand into more regulated markets such as stocks and equities.
After failing to repay a loan of 15,250 Bitcoin $27,667 and 350 million USD Coin $1.00, 3AC received a default notice from crypto exchange Voyager Digital in June 2022. Then, on July 1, 3AC declared bankruptcy, drawing condemnation from the broader crypto sector, with many of its creditors accusing its founders of avoiding legal action.
A number of cryptocurrency companies have publicly said that they will not work with anyone who promotes OPNX. Regardless, the major firm behind the OPNX initiative, CoinFLEX, has defended itself, claiming that it will help make clients of failing crypto projects “whole again.”
