# Babel Finance

> Babel Finance was a Hong Kong-based crypto financial services firm founded in 2018 that lent stablecoins to bitcoin miners, exchanges and funds against digital-asset collateral, and grew into one of Asia's largest institutional crypto lenders. It offered crypto-backed loans, structured asset management, prime brokerage and derivatives strategies to roughly 500 institutional and high-net-worth clients, carried about $3 billion of loan balances, and reached a $2 billion valuation in May 2022. Weeks later a market crash exposed unhedged proprietary trades that lost around $280 million of customer funds, forcing it to freeze withdrawals and enter restructuring.

- **Founded:** 2018
- **Headquarters:** Hong Kong
- **Founders:** Flex Yang (Co-Founder & former CEO (until Oct 2021)), Del Wang (Co-Founder & CEO)
- **Team size:** ~23 employees (per available records; larger at peak)
- **Products:** Crypto-Backed Lending, Structured Asset Management, Prime Brokerage, Derivatives Strategies
- **Notable:** Grew to roughly 500 institutional clients and about $3 billion in crypto loan balances., Reached a $2 billion valuation in its May 2022 Series B - during a broad crypto downturn., Became one of the larger crypto derivatives players in Asia with ~$8B monthly trading volume.

## Products & services

- **Crypto-Backed Lending** — Stablecoin and fiat loans issued against bitcoin and ethereum collateral, originally serving Chinese miners, exchanges and funds needing liquidity without selling their coins.
- **Structured Asset Management** — Yield-generating and structured products for institutional and high-net-worth clients holding BTC, ETH and stablecoins.
- **Prime Brokerage** — Institutional trade execution, custody-adjacent services and financing across major crypto assets.
- **Derivatives Strategies** — Options and structured derivatives; Babel became one of the larger crypto derivatives players with roughly $8B in monthly trading volume.

## Achievements

- Grew to roughly 500 institutional clients and about $3 billion in crypto loan balances.
- Reached a $2 billion valuation in its May 2022 Series B - during a broad crypto downturn.
- Became one of the larger crypto derivatives players in Asia with ~$8B monthly trading volume.
- Raised $122M total from top-tier investors including Sequoia China, Tiger Global, Dragonfly and Circle.

## Latest updates

- **2022-05** — Closed an $80M Series B at a $2 billion valuation with Jeneration Capital, 10T Holdings, Dragonfly, BAI and Circle Ventures.
- **2022-06** — Suspended all customer withdrawals and redemptions, citing 'unusual liquidity pressures' as crypto markets crashed.
- **2022-07** — Reports revealed roughly $280 million in customer funds - about 8,000 BTC and 56,000 ETH - lost in unhedged proprietary trades and forced liquidations.
- **2023-01** — Entered restructuring and sought extended creditor protection, aiming to raise debt and equity to recover client assets.

## Links

- Website: https://babel.finance
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/babelfinance
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/BabelFinance

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/babel-finance
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-04