Crypto firm Sinohope sees losses grow over 40%, no FTX funds in sight

Hong Kong, Jan 2 

ryptocurrency firm Sinohope Technology (formerly Huobi Technology) reported more than 40 per cent loss for the first nine months of 2023, as its funds are still stuck in the collapsed crypto exchange FTX.

Sinohope reported a net loss of $37 million, nearly 40 per cent greater than its net loss in the same period in 2022, the company said in a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange, reports South China Morning Post.

Sinohope has also reportedly laid off a large number of employees to cut costs.

The company’s revenue from its asset management segment nosedived 51.7 per cent from a year earlier.

“Revenue from crypto custodial, compliance and consultancy services fell 95.7 per cent, it said,” according to the report.

The company’s subsidiary Hbit Limited had $18.1 million worth of cryptocurrency at FTX.

“By the end of September, it had 87 employees, according to the most recent filing -- a nearly 90 per cent reduction from the 786 employees it had a year earlier,” the report informed.

In November last year, Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder and former CEO of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, was found guilty on all seven counts related to fraud and money laundering.

He was also convicted of conspiracy to commit commodities and securities fraud, each of which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

FTX -- once the world's second-largest cryptocurrency exchange -- filed for bankruptcy in November 2022.