Haru Invest, a South Korean digital asset management platform, suspended withdrawals from its platform citing an “issue with one of the service partners.”
The firm announced Tuesday morning that the suspension was a “tough decision” taken to protect consumer funds while the firm figured out a “contingency plan to rectify the situation.”
Haru offers annual yields between 12% to 25% on five cryptocurrencies in Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Tether (USDT), Circle (USDC), and XRP (XRP).
The firm claims to have over 80,000 users in over 140 countries and roughly $1 billion in assets under management, per an April 18 update.
Haru did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s request for comment.
Not a ‘rug pull’
Local reports also indicate that the firm’s Seoul offices have been closed as well as its LinkedIn account.
Haru’s CEO, Hugo Hyungsoo Lee, said that the firm moved to a work-from-home mandate, defending the office closure. The move was reportedly made to protect the assets in the office from the potential fallout of users due to withdrawal suspension.
The co-founder and former chief technical officer of Haru, Eunkwang Joo, said that closing the social media account was to follow “guidelines of the law firm in terms of legal response.”
Joo added that the platform has an “internal situation” and not an attempt at a malicious “rug pull.”
Upbit, a South Korean crypto exchange, has also restricted the withdrawal of Upbit assets to Haru following the suspension of withdrawals.
The platform still holds all of its users' funds with its internal trading team and global asset management partners. It generates yields through different arbitrage and investment activities.
Haru users on Telegram are already growing impatient, with some intent on preparing legal action against the firm.
Another distressed user on Twitter said he was “extremely worried” as there was “no real information provided by Haru.”