London Block Exchange placed into liquidation as financial woes catch up

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London Block Exchange placed into liquidation as financial woes catch up

The London Block Exchange has been placed into compulsory liquidation by order of the U.K. Secretary of State. The firm has struggled financially for months now, including being taken to court by one of its creditors. Now, the U.K. government has appointed liquidators to resolve its clients’ concerns and recover any money the company owed.

Launched as the London Block Exchange (LBX), the firm later changed its name to Dragon Payments Ltd., the name it used up until its liquidation. In a statement on its website, it revealed that a winding up order was made against the company on January 31. An order by the Secretary of State appointed London-based David Rubin and Partners as the liquidators five days later on February 4.

The statement reads, “The Joint Liquidators and their team are working toward resolving customers’ concerns, including the recovery of any sums owed, as a matter of priority.”

The company called on anyone with any query or claim for money owed to contact the liquidators.

LBX launched in 2017, claiming to offer debit cards that supported crypto payments. The prepaid Visa cards, which it dubbed Dragoncards allowed users to convert five cryptos to sterling pound and make payments easily. The card was linked to the mobile-first LBX exchange which allowed the users to buy, sell and store their cryptos. According to Business Insider, the startup at the time raised $2.6 million in funding.

In March 2019, the startup’s financial struggles were exposed by a lawsuit filed by London law firm, Squire Patton Boggs. At the time, LBX founder claimed that the lawsuit was just a misunderstanding which he had resolved. He told Coindesk at the time that LBX owed the law firm $12,700 for some services rendered. He’d have paid the money sooner but the invoice had got to him too late, he claimed. He further revealed that he had made the payment and assured the users that the lawsuit would be resolved soon.

Dives, who worked at Swiss bank Credit Suisse prior to founding LBX, further sought to assure everyone that the company wasn’t going into liquidation. He stated, “We’re getting calls from people who think we’re going out of business, but we’re not going into liquidation.”