A leading crypto news outlet in Asia, PANews, has reported that the CNHC Group (formerly Trust Reserve), the issuer of the CNHC stablecoin, has been unreachable since May 29. The CNHC team is reported to have been detained by the police to be presented to the authorities for a judicial seizure; the employees’ family members have been informed.
The Chinese reporter Colin Wu shared more information on the CHNC Group’s detention in a tweet on his official page Wu Blockchain:
According to a PANEWS, the offshore CNY stablecoin CNHC and the HKD stablecoin issuer Trust Reserve team were taken away by the Chinese police for investigation. The office has been seized by the judiciary. https://t.co/zUKOnTW8c8 pic.twitter.com/GK4vLJzWb5
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) May 31, 2023
Colin Wu further asserted that the CNHC team being investigated by the Shanghai police does not necessarily mean that the authorities are behind its cryptocurrency and stablecoin business. Since CNHC has long been conducting cross-border payment of funds, it has also been transferring overseas US dollars to offshore CNY and converting it to onshore RMB, whilst its cumulative transaction volume is $15 billion. The incident in question could reportedly attract judicial issues owing to the funds’ sources for its clients.
The report asserted that after visiting the CNHC Group’s office in Pudong, Shanghai, the office was found to be vacant, with the door having a seal that read “Judicial Seizure, Strictly No Vandalism” affixed, with the signed date being May 29, 2023.
The Trust Reserve offers the offshore RMB stable currency CNHC and the Hong Kong dollar stable currency HKDC. Sources closely following the matter informed reporters that the CNHC Group’s stablecoin business hasn’t been promoted as much as it ideally should have been promoted. CNHC also has another cross-border payment business, and the case could have been impacted by the payment business.
Notably, CNHC had reportedly announced the completion of a US$10 million A+ round of financing led by KuCoin Ventures, Circle, and IDG Capital. At press time, CNHC is trading at $0.1404, as per CoinMarketCap (CMC).