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In a memorandum the parent company Inkapayments admitted liquidity problems.The document, signed by its CEO, Roger Benites, reveals that there were delays in the payment of salaries.An internal memo of Inkapayments, the parent company of the home exchange of cryptocurrencies Bitinka, revealed that the company is confronting economic problems and even struggling to pay the salary to their own employees. The statement, obtained by Breaking News in exclusive, was signed in Lima, Peru, by Roger Benites, CEO of the startup.Two independent sources consulted by this newspaper confirmed the authenticity of the document. In the text, Benites supports that have been committed “errors in all areas”, which resulted in multiple problems in administrative and financial are listed in the written communication addressed to the workers.“Dear all. I communicate with you in response to the complaints and feedback we have been receiving in the course of these days. Dear, I understand the discomfort and discomfort generated against the delay in salaries. Unfortunately we have suffered delays due to a complicated situation that is facing the company currently. Have been two months that have been paid late assets,” says the memorandum dated may 14 of this year.One of the sources consulted, who preferred to protect their identity for fear of reprisals, said that by then the company had nearly 70 employees, and that, due to the lack of payments and the problems in general, the payroll would be reduced to only 5 people after the resignations in bulk.In the statement, Benites talks to take actions and correct mistakes, although you do not specify the decisions to take. “As you know, the company is experiencing administrative changes, and in turn, actions are taken to remedy mistakes in all the areas, errors of commercial and technological that led to a large decline in transaction volume, which caused users to be afraid, to move away, and we burn in the networks. Problems in the platform and communication=errors=loss of money=liquidity problems, it is not an equation very difficult”, can be read in the document.
Lack of funding
One of the aspects of the yes details are provided is that, due to economic problems, the company began to seek funding to alleviate the hardships and honor their commitments. At this point, Benites assumes responsibility and asks for patience to the employees so that they stay in the company.“As the leader of the whole team, I do a mea culpa for not measured the consequences of what this could entail and, that is why since a few weeks I have resorted to other means common to the financing of the company which should resolve our problems for the next few months on the issue of wages. I only ask patience and if not possible, I thank them for the time of waiting and I will understand if you are looking for other alternatives”, he added, although without making it clear what decisions refers to when he says that not measured the consequences of what would happen.The revelations of the statement called the attention for several reasons. The first is that, according to CoinMarketCap, Bitinka is one of the exchange houses of cryptocurrencies with the highest volume reported in the world. The startup is located in the 50th over of companies such as Coinbase Pro, Kraken, Bitstamp, or Bitfinex, which are recognized in the ecosystem of the cryptocurrencies.At this point will show several contradictions. If Bitinka is allegedly a leader in Latin america and on a global scale in the exchange of cryptocurrencies, how do you have problems to pay your employees? why have they resigned en masse? what is sustainable for a company of that course size with 5 employees?In addition, an analysis published in march of this year revealed that Bitinka was included in a list of exchange houses that had volumes of exchange suspects.The second reason that calls the attention is that what was written by Benites in the memorandum would give legitimacy to the claims of dozens of users of Bitinka who have requested, through various avenues, the return of the funds that they claim are frozen on the platform from 2018. The people allege that you do not have access to their accounts and can’t withdraw your money. Bitinka claims that malicious users hurt the platform in your favor.
Limit of tolerance
Benites also acknowledges in the document that the complicated situation of the company climbed to all levels of the company, with shareholders hoping for a recovery in the shortest possible time.“The shareholders are aware of this situation and are waiting for the computer to respond to be able to take action. Every shareholder has a tolerance limit losses even more so when they have a solution, and it is in the efforts of the staff that compensates for almost 5 years globally and almost 2 since we decided to move everything to Peru”, stated the executive.Here there is another aspect to highlight. Benites confirms that the company’s headquarters is in Peru, but in a message to Breaking News, in February of this year, the company said, after being sued in Argentina, the following: “we inform that the company has its legal domicile in Hong Kong, where it was legally constituted”. That is to say, to process the claims sent to their own users in the asian territory, although in theory they have all moved to Peru, a country in which neither maintain a fiscal domicile fixed, according to another source consulted.This publishing house also confirmed that Benites no longer meets face-to-face with the employees that remain. The meetings are carried out remotely across platforms of live streaming. In one of the meetings observed only eight people.A request for comment sent to Bitinka for more debate on these issues was not answered. In addition, their social media accounts remain dormant, which generates greater uncertainty. On Twitter there are no new messages since the 11th of July, while on Facebook there are no updates, or were deleted, in 2019.The problems with the company began last year when, after an update process, there were technical errors between the 28 September and 5 October. The company said at the time that users took advantage of the flaws to make a profit.To counter what happened to the company restored the accounts of everyone involved, your initial balance. That is to say, Bitinka decided, unilaterally, to put the balance sheets of its users as they were before the occurrence of the fault, eliminating any gains resulting from redemptions.Now, with the disclosure of this release, it is revealed that the complicated situation of Bitinka is not only limited to its operations with cryptocurrencies, but also to labor issues, management, administrative, and reputation in the ecosystem of cryptocurrencies.