'ONUS, HanaGold is under investigation'

Error: Unable to log in to the ONUS app.

The inaccessibility of the ONUS cryptocurrency platform is receiving significant attention from the investment community. Many users of the application are currently unable to access their assets, causing panic and fear of losing money. Regarding this issue, HVA, a company closely associated with ONUS, has just issued a statement on its official website.

When users access the application, the technical team informs them that authorities are inspecting the products within the system.

"According to information we have received, authorities are conducting inspections at several units related to ONUS, HanaGold, etc., in various provinces and cities. During this process, the accounting personnel have been temporarily detained, along with the equipment used for operations (including transaction authentication equipment), which is currently unusable," the HVA technical team stated.

This has resulted in disruptions to some system functions, particularly those requiring authentication. The unit stated that it is currently unable to log into bank accounts to approve payment orders. Automatic payment limits have been reached and are no longer available. Processing of investor withdrawal requests has been temporarily interrupted.

Announcement from HVA. Photo: HVA.

Meanwhile, the handling of the situation by related applications is inconsistent. ONUS has yet to issue an official statement since users were unable to access the service. HanaGold stated that they are upgrading their technology and therefore have stopped providing the fast withdrawal feature.

Both of the aforementioned platforms are closely related to HVA Group. HVA has invested approximately 40 billion VND in HanaGold by 2025, launching NFT solutions and gold ATMs. Mr. Vuong Le Vinh Nhan is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of HVA Group and also holds a key role (Chairman) at OnusChain.

The ONUS app launched in Vietnam in March 2020, during a period when many people were new to the cryptocurrency market. The platform is headquartered in Singapore but its leadership is primarily Vietnamese, targeting domestic customers. The platform offers the VNDC stablecoin, pegged to the Vietnamese Dong, as its core product. It also allows users to deposit, withdraw, and convert between digital assets and fiat currency. This type of transaction falls within a legal opacity.

From stablecoin and wallet solutions, ONUS has gradually transformed into a multi-functional platform with services including swap, futures market, leverage, P2P, and more.

In December 2021, hackers offered to sell data collected from the ONUS platform. The hackers claimed to possess information on over 1.92 million accounts, 90% of which belonged to Vietnamese users. The total amount of stolen data reached 9 TB, including full names, emails, phone numbers, encrypted passwords, and transaction history.