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"In German we say Verwüstung, they have left a trail of destruction behind them," a verified CoinFLEX creditor told Decrypt, "From CoinFLEX to 3AC and to things like this. It's a mess!"
The creditor met with Decrypt and provided proof of their claims against CoinFLEX, but asked not to be named because of ongoing legal matters.
The Open Exchange, or OPNX, led by CEO Mark Lamb and co-founded by crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital co-founders Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, announced it was ceasing operations last week. That set off a wave of vindication among CoinFLEX board members and creditors.
CoinFLEX was the previous venture of Lamb, Zhu, and Davies. When it controversially "rebranded" to OPNX, creditors say they were left with no power in the new company.
Those involved with the previous venture have been watching the OPNX news unfold with a keen eye. Already Zhu and Davies have moved onto OX.Fun, a gamified crypto derivatives platform, as advisors. It uses OX, the same native token as OPNX.
"As an advisor of OX.Fun, I’m very excited to see what the team is building with $OX." Davies told Decrypt, "Mark is not involved in OX.Fun in any capacity."
He did not comment on whether CoinFLEX funds were used to create OPNX, claims that CoinFLEX creditors and board members were left out of the rebranding, or respond to the creditors’ claim that the group have left a "trail of destruction" behind them.
But then, there are ongoing legal claims from the new CoinFLEX board against OPNX.
Meanwhile, OPNX investors are following the 3AC co-founder to turn the OX token into a memecoin—with full support of Zhu and Davies.
"They think it's the greatest fun in the world," the unnamed verified CoinFLEX creditor said. "But, OX.Fun is just the reincarnation of OPNX."
Calling themselves the "Herd," CoinFLEX creditors say the investors faithfully following the 3AC co-founders to their next ventures are ignoring their track record.
"I feel sorry for those guys," the unnamed CoinFLEX creditor said. "I think it's about education too. Because when I ask people on the forums, who are you trading with? They don't know. One guy told me that they don't believe in due diligence. Maybe some of those guys should be punished."
https://twitter.com/KyleLDavies/status/1754239493169713221
What CoinFLEX left behind
Despite rebranding, the CoinFLEX company still exists—albeit without Lamb, who was ousted just a few months ago.
What remains is a group of disgruntled and confused individuals who believe the law has been broken throughout this process, according to Kirill Gourov, a CoinFLEX board member and former partner at Kraken Ventures. Neither Kraken nor its exchange arm are involved in the CoinFLEX dispute with Lamb.
"People who commit crimes should go to jail and my opinion is that these people are committing crimes," Gourov told Decrypt. "Mark moved from Dubai to Hong Kong after the VARA fines came out. He moved out of HK and, to my knowledge, hasn't been back since before we were appointed. He even admitted in an email that he has personal risk in coming back, when he tried requesting personal compensation and additional funding from creditors. This isn't the behavior of honest people."
As a result, the new board has ongoing legal actions which are "not changing at all" due to the recent OPNX news, said Gourov. Instead, the news is a "vindication" of their claims against the group.
"There's nothing wrong with creating new companies," he added. "But perpetuating a grift using corporate games is a much different matter and we hope authorities are taking note."
The current CoinFLEX board's initial plan was to "revive the company," but they have since had to shift their focus on "untangling the mess left behind."
Despite this, the unnamed creditor claims the new board's communication has been worse than the previous.
"The creditor group is also very large, so we can't discuss legal strategy with 1,000 people and still maintain an edge." Gourov told Decrypt, "We want to do better with updates and are working towards it, but Mark has refused to hand over CoinFLEX assets like the website, etc. We'll get it back eventually and use it as a proper information portal hopefully soon."
The verified creditors' primary issue is that they have received no official correspondence, just "one post in a small Telegram group." But, Gourov claims this is due to Lamb not handing over creditors emails, being "not very well staffed", and prioritizing the clean up.
What happened last time
Prior to OPNX, Mark Lamb founded CoinFLEX in 2019. By 2022, the project was struggling. So Lamb looked to Zhu and Davies for help. At the time, they had just seen their crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) collapse and file for bankruptcy.
CoinFLEX later froze withdrawals. The company said this due to investor Roger Ver defaulting on a "written manual margin agreement." Ver denies the claim. This resulted in a restructuring of the company, approved by the Seychelles Court.
The unnamed CoinFLEX creditor claims to have lost "low five digits" during this time.
Shortly after, CoinFLEX was rebranded to OPNX. But this "rebrand" kicked the CoinFLEX board and creditors out, leaving them with no power in the new exchange.
"It turned out that there was never a rebrand." Gourov, told Decrypt. "Coinflex assets were shifted to or used by OPNX, an entirely separate company, without any oversight."
Again: Another detail that Davies was asked about, but declined to comment on.
Meanwhile, the CoinFLEX board and creditors believe Lamb and the 3AC co-founders used CoinFLEX funds to cover 3AC legal fees, hire for OPNX, and pay for a photoshoot in Dubai.
https://x.com/CoinFLEXreal/status/1717496736501887177?s=20
OPNX, Mark Lamb, and Su Zhu did not immediately reply to Decrypt's request for comment. This article will be updated if they respond. Kyle Davies refused to comment on anything other than OX.Fun.
Editor's note: This story was updated to clarify that Kirill Gourov left his position at Kraken before becoming a board member at CoinFLEX.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.