The recently hacked Nigerian gift card and crypto exchange platform Patricia said on Sept. 29 that it had raised money to refund users. Some users have reportedly grown impatient with the crypto exchange and are weighing their legal options.
Unilateral Conversion of Users’ Funds
The Nigeria crypto exchange platform Patricia has reportedly raised an undisclosed amount of capital to fund its reimbursement plan for users affected by the May hacking. The crypto exchange’s reported capital raise came just a few weeks after it unilaterally converted user funds to a stablecoin token known as patricia token.
Patricians! It’s time to have your say!
Join us this Friday, September 29, 2023, from 1-2 p.m. for an exclusive town hall session where we spill the tea on our Patricia Relaunch, the Patricia Token, and why we need YOU on board! pic.twitter.com/WXv0SYK4fg
— Patricia (@PatriciaSwitch) September 26, 2023
As reported by Bitcoin.com News in late May, Patricia lost digital assets worth an estimated $2 million after hackers breached the crypto platform. At the time, the Patricia team said only BTC and naira assets were compromised. The team also claimed that the subsequent freeze on withdrawals was intended to give the crypto exchange time to bolster its trading platform.
Yet, despite Patricia’s latest and past statements reassuring affected customers, a report by Techcabal suggests that users are growing impatient. To assuage frustrated customers, the firm’s CEO Hanu Fejiro reportedly told users that Patricia had secured funding to kickstart the reimbursement process.
“We have raised money [and] we have been working very hard to get the money back to you. And when we launch the application, the first set of customers will be able to get their money back immediately and in full,” Fejiro said.
However, the CEO’s failure to provide an exact date when affected customers are set to get refunds is reported to have riled users. As a consequence, some users have proposed staging a protest against the exchange while others are reportedly now weighing the possibility of suing Patricia.
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