Embattled crypto exchange Patricia appears to have failed to live up to its promise of enabling withdrawal for a set of customers today.
Recall that last week, we reported how Hanu Fejiro, Patricia CEO disclosed in a private conversation with Technext how the company intends to kickstart the first phase of customer payment on Monday, November 20.
Read here: ‘Withdrawals will commence on November 20’- Patricia CEO Hanu Fejiro assures customers
However, it’s now 7 pm West African Time on the announced date and the Patricia customers that have spoken to us said they have not been able to withdraw funds from the platform.
Also, a user has taken to X (Twitter) to complain about the lack of access to funds as promised. According to them, around 1000 customers are in a Telegram group and none of them has received any update as of the evening of Monday, November 20.
“He Fejiro said Patricia is going to commence payment today but hell no, that stupid app is still under lock and key. No emails have been sent, there’s like 1 thousand of us in a group and none of us have received any form of Text or email,” the user said.
A bit of backstory on Patricia’s current circumstance
Patricia, as well as its customers, have endured a difficult time for most of 2023. Patricia ran into trouble following a breach in its security sometime last year. But it remained a well-kept secret until May of this year when Technext reported the breach. The crypto exchange lost N2 billion in the process.
In a bid to salvage the situation, the company first resorted to converting the loss to debt tokens. This was greeted with huge backlash as many users refused the measure. When this failed, the company decided to convert the debts into equity, granting the customers ownership of the company.
Hanu Fejiro confirmed to Technext that the move is an integral component of the company’s strategy for fundraising and a bid to reorganise its debts. He also said the idea was put forward by ‘numerous users’ and that it was not mandatory. To buttress the point, he revealed that the company was working with an SEC-approved company to act as escrow in managing repayments to customers who refused the equity deal. That company turned out to be DLM Trust.
However, recently, DLM Trust the escrow company named by embattled crypto company Patricia as partner and trustee to guarantee the repayment of its customers, dissociated itself from the crypto exchange with immediate effect.
Following that, Patricia Technologies released a statement where it said it was shocked by the development.
“DLM Trust Company’s sudden and unilateral decision to terminate our partnership. This development is coming as a surprise as we were not informed before their public statement of withdrawal.”
Nevertheless, the company assured depositors and stakeholders that the Repayment plan that was initiated would go on as scheduled.
Read also: Exclusive: Since its relaunch in May, crypto company, Paxful has been struggling to survive
Following that development, in a private conversation with Technext last week, Hanu Fejiro that customers’ withdrawals will start on November 20 (today).
“We are working on it, it is tough but we are on it. And communication is very key, customers are getting withdrawals starting from 20th and we would continue to repay as we raise more money, make recoveries and gains from operations.” – Hanu Fejiro said.
It, however, seems like as at sunset on the agreed day, and there is no withdrawal in sight for customers.
What is next?
Technext sent questions to Patricia representatives to inquire about the reason why customers haven’t got access to funds on the announced date and if there’s any update on the withdrawal process, but we haven’t received any response as of the time of publication.
Customers, observers, stakeholders and enthusiasts can only hope that Patricia will give an update soon.
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