BY Richard Summerfield
Private investment platform Linqto has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.
The company, which enabled retail investors to purchase shares in pre-IPO companies like Ripple through series limited liability companies (LLCs), filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday citing “potentially insurmountable operating challenges” as the main driver behind the filing.
According to court documents, the firm’s investment vehicle, LiquidShares, holds securities valued at over $500m across 111 companies, including 4.7 million Ripple shares. The filing, which includes Linqto Inc. and affiliated entities, aims to protect asset value while restructuring operations under judicial oversight. Linqto will continue limited business activities during proceedings and secured up to $60m in debtor-in-possession financing from Sandton Capital Partners to maintain critical operations.
“After carefully evaluating Linqto’s alternatives, the board of directors made the decision that seeking a court-supervised restructuring was in the best interests of all Linqto customers to preserve, protect, and maximize the value of Linqto’s assets for the benefit of its stakeholders,” said Dan Siciliano, chief executive of Linqto. “Linqto cannot continue to operate under existing conditions without restructuring. The company faces potentially insurmountable operating challenges as a result of serious alleged securities law violations and related ongoing investigations by the Division of Enforcement of the US Securities and Exchange Commission as well as other regulatory agencies. In addition, Linqto recently discovered several serious defects in the corporate formation, structure, and operation of the business that raise questions about what customers actually own and which management believes can only be fairly and effectively addressed through restructuring.”
He continued: “When the new management team was hired in early 2025, we made it clear that there can be no path forward that preserves value of customer interests without remediating alleged securities laws violations from prior management and not breaking the law. Despite reducing expenses, the only way forward is to seek court-supervised protection that will let us restructure the business into a profitable, law-abiding organization while resolving the ongoing regulatory investigations faster.”
The company has faced increased scrutiny from US regulators of late. According to The Wall Street Journal, internal reviews of the company have also raised serious red flags. Linqto allegedly marketed private equity investments to ineligible retail investors, failed to properly transfer title of securities to customers, and sold Ripple shares to users at markup levels far above the 10 percent cap permitted by the SEC.
Linqto has appointed Jeffrey S. Stein of Breakpoint Partners as its chief restructuring officer and has said it intends to cooperate with regulators throughout the process.