Defunct crypto exchange Globix funds frozen as per Gibraltar court orders

• A Gibraltar court has ordered several crypto exchanges to hand over customer information and freeze funds related to Globix.
• Globix’s liquidators got an injunction to stop Binance from transferring assets associated with Globix.

Liquidators of defunct crypto exchange Globix have secured a court order to help with their hunt for $43 million of missing funds. A Gibraltar court ordered multiple crypto exchanges to freeze digital assets associated with the downed crypto platform. Moreover, they need to share customer information with the liquidators. 

Court order threatens Gibraltar’s crypto ambitions

According to a report by the Financial Times, the latest order from the Gibraltar court demanded crypto exchanges including Crypto.com, Bitstamp and Kraken to disclose the identities of the holders of certain crypto wallets associated with Globix and its collapse. A person familiar with the matter revealed that the court orders are to aid the insolvency lawyers’ hunt for the missing $43 million. 

Earlier this month, the court issued Gibraltar’s first ever crypto asset injunction, which ordered the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance, to cease attempts to transfer assets from wallets associated with Globix.

Begbies Traynor Group, the firm responsible for the liquidation of Miracle World Ventures Limited, submitted the application on 29 March. The firm was incorporated into the British Virgin Islands, and operated in Gibraltar under the name Globix. 

Damian Carreras, the director and sole shareholder of Globix, told FT that his firm had tried to recover funds following its collapse in June last year. However, the exchange fell victim to cyber-crime and theft. The director entered Globix into voluntary liquidation last month following several months of inability to pay its creditors and investors. 

The crypto asset injunction issued last month and the latest court order are reportedly threatening to undermine Gibraltar’s ambitions to become a leading destination for crypto investors and firms that are looking for a properly regulated jurisdiction. Gibraltar became one of the first jurisdictions to recognize the crypto industry back in 2018.