{"id":496636,"date":"2022-07-25T22:18:45","date_gmt":"2022-07-25T22:18:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wncen.com\/?p=496636"},"modified":"2024-06-11T13:16:44","modified_gmt":"2024-06-11T13:16:44","slug":"the-inside-story-of-the-roger-ver-vs-coinflex-conflict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wncen.com\/news\/the-inside-story-of-the-roger-ver-vs-coinflex-conflict\/","title":{"rendered":"The Inside Story Of The Roger Ver Vs. CoinFLEX Conflict"},"content":{"rendered":"
The infamous Roger Ver is back in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Like many players in the industry, the derivatives exchange CoinFLEX recently ran into financial trouble. Surprisingly, they blamed it all on Roger Ver and the circus started. Luckily for us, <\/span>Chinese journalist Colin Wu covered<\/span><\/a> \u201cthe entire insider details through a source close to the situation\u201d in his newsletter. However, as you can see, it\u2019s an anonymous source. So, take the story we\u2019re about to analyze with a grain of salt.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The summary of the situation according to Wu:<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOn June 24, 2022, the exchange CoinFLEX announced that it made the decision to halt user withdraws, and the price of the platform Token FLEX subsequently plummeted, from $4.30 to less than $1.50 in four hours. At the same time, FlexUSD, the platform’s stablecoin, also began to de-peg, with prices dropping as low as $0.23.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The funny thing is that both entities were clearly in business together. On May 14th, Roger Ver tweeted, \u201cInterest paying FlexUSD by CoinFLEX\u00a0 is on its way to being the default stable coin for the whole SmartBCH ecosystem if USDT & USDC don’t move quickly.\u201d How did everything deteriorate so fast? That\u2019s what this article\u2019s about.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Interest paying #FlexUSD<\/a> by @CoinFLEXdotcom<\/a> is on its way to being the default stable coin for the whole @SmartBCH<\/a> ecosystem if #USDT<\/a> & #USDC<\/a> don’t move quickly.https:\/\/t.co\/HG14Ik6U0o<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Roger Ver (@rogerkver) May 14, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The story starts with CoinFLEX announcing to their partners that they \u201copened a special account for Roger Ver.\u201d The account’s characteristics guaranteed that Roger Ver \u201cwould not be liquidated immediately if it fell below the maintenance margin, but rather that he would be given sufficient time to make a margin call.\u201d Nothing special here, the man is a high-net-worth individual, deals like this are a dime a dozen in high finance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As a guarantee, Roger Ver offered \u201ca margin of BCH,\u201d valued \u201cat around $400.\u201d Then, the Terra collapse happened and the whole crypto market crashed. By the time CoinFLEX \u201dfaced a liquidity crisis,\u201d Bitcoin Cash was worth around $120. It\u2019s still at that price range at the time of writing. This is where things get insane. The biggest revelation of Wu\u2019s story is at the end of this paragraph.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIf that were all, CoinFLEX would have been able to cover its shortfall. However, prior to this, CoinFLEX had issued its own stablecoin, FlexUSD, like other exchanges. At this point, CoinFLEX used FlexUSD to buy a large amount of FLEX from the secondary market and opened short position to hedge the spot price. However, the counterparty to this short position was also Roger Ver!\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n As we\u2019ve seen happen again and again, \u201cwhen the withdrawal restriction announcement was made, CoinFLEX’s total funds began to fall in a cyclical fashion.\u201d And all hell broke loose.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n On June 27th, the company\u2019s CEO <\/span>Mark Lamb tweeted<\/span><\/a>, \u201cCoinFLEX made the decision to halt user withdrawals on June 23, shortly after a long-time customer of CoinFLEX went into negative equity. \u201d Immediately after, the rumor that Roger Ver was that \u201clong-time customer\u201d began circulating.<\/span><\/p>\n Recently some rumors have been \u2014 Roger Ver (@rogerkver) June 28, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The Bitcoin Cash leader went on the offensive and tweeted a statement obviously written by a lawyer. \u201cRecently some rumors have been spreading that I have defaulted on a debt to a counter-party. These rumors are false. Not only do I not have a debt to this counter-party, but this counter-party owes me a substantial sum of money, and I am currently seeking the return of my funds.\u201d How could those two statements be true? Remember that \u201cthe counterparty to this short position was also Roger Ver!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n He had a long track record of previously topping up margin and meeting margin requirements in accordance with this agreement. We have been speaking to him on calls frequently about this situation with the aim of resolving it. We still would like to resolve it.<\/p>\n \u2014 Mark Lamb ? (@MarkDavidLamb) June 28, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n However, Mark Lamb was not having it. Even though both parties were negotiating, Lamb took to Twitter and stated, \u201cCoinFLEX also categorically denies that we have any debts owing to him.\u201d Plus, \u201cRoger Ver owes CoinFLEX $47 Million USDC. We have a written contract with him obligating him to personally guarantee any negative equity on his CoinFLEX account and top up margin regularly.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Even if CoinFLEX is right in this instance, did they have to air their dirty laundry in public?<\/span><\/p>\n Back to Colin Wu\u2019s newsletter:<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIn the end, Roger Ver’s position was completely worn out and turned into negative equity, while CoinFLEX was left with a lot of delisting FLEX. It was revealed that CoinFLEX had a real loss of $120 million, including losses from the de-peg of the stablecoin FlexUSD and the loss of withdrawals (less than $10 million) due to the collapse of the SmartBCH cross-chain bridge, which was built by CoinFLEX.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n And the fact of the matter is that, even if Roger Ver\u2019s debt caused this, CoinFLEX\u2019s risk management team has a few questions to answer. \u201cRoger Ver became almost the only counterparty to the exchange, and this only counterparty had the privilege of not replenishing the margin in time,\u201d Wu concludes. It was an unfortunate sequence of events, but both parties signed those deals and both parties took to Twitter to resolve what should\u2019ve been a private matter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Shame all around.<\/span><\/p>\n The infamous Roger Ver is back in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Like many players in the industry, the derivatives exchange CoinFLEX recently ran into financial trouble. Surprisingly, they blamed it all on Roger Ver and the circus started. Luckily for us, Chinese journalist Colin Wu covered \u201cthe entire insider details through a source close to the situation\u201d in his newsletter. However, as you can see, it\u2019s an anonymous source. So, take the story we\u2019re about to analyze with a grain of salt.\u00a0 The summary of the situation according to Wu: \u201cOn June 24, 2022, the exchange CoinFLEX announced that it made the decision to halt user withdraws, and the price of the platform Token FLEX subsequently plummeted, from $4.30 to less than $1.50 in four hours. At the same time, FlexUSD, the platform’s stablecoin, also began to de-peg, with prices dropping as low as $0.23.\u201d The funny thing is that both entities were clearly in business together. On May 14th, Roger Ver tweeted, \u201cInterest paying FlexUSD by CoinFLEX\u00a0 is on its way to being the default stable coin for the whole SmartBCH ecosystem if USDT & USDC don’t move quickly.\u201d How did everything deteriorate so fast? That\u2019s what this article\u2019s about.\u00a0 Interest paying #FlexUSD by @CoinFLEXdotcom is on its way to being the default stable coin for the whole @SmartBCH ecosystem if #USDT & #USDC don’t move quickly.https:\/\/t.co\/HG14Ik6U0o \u2014 Roger Ver (@rogerkver) May 14, 2022 Roger Ver Vs. CoinFLEX, The Play By Play The story starts with CoinFLEX announcing to their partners that they \u201copened a special account for Roger Ver.\u201d The account’s characteristics guaranteed that Roger Ver \u201cwould not be liquidated immediately if it fell below the maintenance margin, but rather that he would be given sufficient time to make a margin call.\u201d Nothing special here, the man is a high-net-worth individual, deals like this are a dime a dozen in high finance.\u00a0 As a guarantee, Roger Ver offered \u201ca margin of BCH,\u201d valued \u201cat around $400.\u201d Then, the Terra collapse happened and the whole crypto market crashed. By the time CoinFLEX \u201dfaced a liquidity crisis,\u201d Bitcoin Cash was worth around $120. It\u2019s still at that price range at the time of writing. This is where things get insane. The biggest revelation of Wu\u2019s story is at the end of this paragraph. \u201cIf that were all, CoinFLEX would have been able to cover its shortfall. However, prior to this, CoinFLEX had issued its own stablecoin, FlexUSD, like other exchanges. At this point, CoinFLEX used FlexUSD to buy a large amount of FLEX from the secondary market and opened short position to hedge the spot price. However, the counterparty to this short position was also Roger Ver!\u201d As we\u2019ve seen happen again and again, \u201cwhen the withdrawal restriction announcement was made, CoinFLEX’s total funds began to fall in a cyclical fashion.\u201d And all hell broke loose.\u00a0 BCH price chart on Coinbase | Source: BCH\/USD on TradingView.com An All-Out Twitter War On June 27th, the company\u2019s CEO Mark Lamb tweeted, \u201cCoinFLEX made the decision to halt user withdrawals on June 23, shortly after a long-time customer of CoinFLEX went into negative equity. \u201d Immediately after, the rumor that Roger Ver was that \u201clong-time customer\u201d began circulating. Recently some rumors have been spreading that I have defaulted on a debt to a counter-party. These rumors are false. Not only do I not have a debt to this counter-party, but this counter- party owes me a substantial sum of money, and I am currently seeking the return of my funds. \u2014 Roger Ver (@rogerkver) June 28, 2022 The Bitcoin Cash leader went on the offensive and tweeted a statement obviously written by a lawyer. \u201cRecently some rumors have been spreading that I have defaulted on a debt to a counter-party. These rumors are false. Not only do I not have a debt to this counter-party, but this counter-party owes me a substantial sum of money, and I am currently seeking the return of my funds.\u201d How could those two statements be true? Remember that \u201cthe counterparty to this short position was also Roger Ver!\u201d He had a long track record of previously topping up margin and meeting margin requirements in accordance with this agreement. We have been speaking to him on calls frequently about this situation with the aim of resolving it. We still would like to resolve it. \u2014 Mark Lamb ? (@MarkDavidLamb) June 28, 2022 However, Mark Lamb was not having it. Even though both parties were negotiating, Lamb took to Twitter and stated, \u201cCoinFLEX also categorically denies that we have any debts owing to him.\u201d Plus, \u201cRoger Ver owes CoinFLEX $47 Million USDC. We have a written contract with him obligating him to personally guarantee any negative equity on his CoinFLEX account and top up margin regularly.\u201d Even if CoinFLEX is right in this instance, did they have to air their dirty laundry in public? Roger Ver Vs. CoinFLEX, The Aftermath Back to Colin Wu\u2019s newsletter: \u201cIn the end, Roger Ver’s position was completely worn out and turned into negative equity, while CoinFLEX was left with a lot of delisting FLEX. It was revealed that CoinFLEX had a real loss of $120 million, including losses from the de-peg of the stablecoin FlexUSD and the loss of withdrawals (less than $10 million) due to the collapse of the SmartBCH cross-chain bridge, which was built by CoinFLEX.\u201d And the fact of the matter is that, even if Roger Ver\u2019s debt caused this, CoinFLEX\u2019s risk management team has a few questions to answer. \u201cRoger Ver became almost the only counterparty to the exchange, and this only counterparty had the privilege of not replenishing the margin in time,\u201d Wu concludes. It was an unfortunate sequence of events, but both parties signed those deals and both parties took to Twitter to resolve what should\u2019ve been a private matter.\u00a0 Shame all around. Featured Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay | Charts by TradingView<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"featured_media":496637,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85876,16895,3],"tags":[86455,10777,10736,17312,83837,86456,86453,15877,86450,86454,86449,7668,86451,86122,86452],"class_list":["post-496636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-altcoin","category-bitcoin-cash","category-news","tag-airing-dirty-laundry-in-public","tag-bchusd","tag-bitcoin-cash","tag-coinflex","tag-colin-wu","tag-crypto-collapse","tag-crypto-intrigue","tag-crypto-winter","tag-flexusd","tag-inside-story","tag-mark-lamb","tag-roger-ver","tag-smartbch-ecosystem","tag-terra-collapse","tag-wublockchain"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n
Roger Ver Vs. CoinFLEX, The Play By Play<\/span><\/h2>\n
BCH price chart on Coinbase | Source: BCH\/USD on TradingView.com<\/a><\/pre>\n
An All-Out Twitter War<\/span><\/h2>\n
\n
\nspreading that I have defaulted on a
\ndebt to a counter-party. These rumors
\nare false. Not only do I not have a debt
\nto this counter-party, but this counter-
\nparty owes me a substantial sum of
\nmoney, and I am currently seeking the
\nreturn of my funds.<\/p>\n\n
Roger Ver Vs. CoinFLEX, The Aftermath<\/span><\/h2>\n
Featured Image by Gerd Altmann<\/a> from Pixabay<\/a> | Charts by TradingView<\/a><\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"