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3AC Co-Founder Kyle Davies Says He Won’t Apologize for Crypto Hedge Fund Going 'Bankrupt'

Davies also said he wouldn't return to Singapore "immediately" in order to effectively avoid jail and wait for some sort of settlement.

Updated Mar 20, 2024, 4:52 p.m. Published Mar 20, 2024, 7:59 a.m.
Kyle Davies, Su Zhu, Mark Lamb (Kyle Davies/Twitter)
Kyle Davies, Su Zhu, Mark Lamb (Kyle Davies/Twitter)
  • Kyle Davies refused to apologize for his role in his crypto hedge fund going bankrupt.
  • Davies was speaking on the Unchained podcast and refused to reveal his current location.

Kyle Davies, the co-founder of the now-defunct Three Arrows Capital (3AC), has stated that he is not sorry for the crypto hedge fund going bankrupt. Davies was speaking on an episode of the Unchained Podcast on March 19.

“Am I sorry for a company going bankrupt? No, like companies go bankrupt, almost every company goes bankrupt, right?” Davies said about the public sentiment that he had not shown remorse. “It’s how you build or what you do about it. We’re definitely trying our best. We can add value in various ways. At a minimum, we can even tell the next Three Arrows how to do things better when they go bankrupt.”

Davies and Su Zhu co-founded Three Arrows in 2012 but suffered heavy losses in the mid-2022 crypto market downturn. The crash led to 3AC’s insolvency proceedings, starting in the British Virgin Islands, but reaching both Singapore and the U.S.

Zhu was arrested at the Singapore airport in September 2023 for allegedly failing to help liquidate 3AC and sentenced to four months’ imprisonment. Zhu was released early, in December 2023, based on standard provisions for good behavior.

Davies said both he and Zhu did not know about a court date, otherwise, why would Zhu enter Singapore? They were in contempt of court, and that is why Zhu was apprehended, Davies said.

“Maybe we should (sack our lawyers for not informing us about the court date),” Davies said when asked whether he had fired his lawyers.

Davies, who renounced his U.S. citizenship to acquire Singapore citizenship, has not returned to Singapore since then to face the same four-month sentence that Zhu faced. Davies said he would not be returning to Singapore “immediately” but "obviously these things just resolve at some point, there are settlements.”

During the interview, Davies also said he didn’t see any reason why he couldn’t return to the U.S. where his family is, but that so far, he had not returned to the U.S. He claimed he was “in Europe” but did not confirm whether he was in Portugal, something he told New York Magazine.

In April 2023, the 3AC founders, who were in Dubai, set up OPNX, a bankruptcy claims exchange. Within a month, OPNX was formally reprimanded by Dubai’s crypto regulator for operating an unregulated exchange, and by Feb. 2024, the exchange was shut down.

However, during the current bull run in the crypto market, OPNX seemingly relaunched as $LAMB.

“Lamb is a token focused on the concepts of Sacrifice, Servant Leadership and the Kingdom of God being within you,” OPNX's X profile said.

In September 2023, Singapore’s central bank issued a nine-year ban against the 3AC founders, prohibiting them from operating in the country’s regulated financial services industry. In December 2023, a worldwide court order from a British Virgin Islands court froze more than $1 billion in assets belonging to the 3AC founders.

Read More: Worldcoin’s Rocketing WLD Token Could Benefit Creditors of Three Arrows Capital, FTX




Amitoj Singh

Amitoj Singh is a CoinDesk reporter focusing on regulation and the politics shaping the future of finance. He also presents shows for CoinDesk TV on occasion. He has previously contributed to various news organizations such as CNN, Al Jazeera, Business Insider and SBS Australia. Previously, he was Principal Anchor and News Editor at NDTV (New Delhi Television Ltd.), the go-to news network for Indians globally. Amitoj owns a marginal amount of Bitcoin and Ether below CoinDesk's disclosure threshold of $1,000.

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