Celsius to distribute $127 million in second phase of bankruptcy payouts
Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network is set to distribute $127 million to creditors in the second payout under its bankruptcy proceedings. According to the court filings, this distribution represents 2.75% of total creditor claims.
With the distribution, the defunct lender’s total payout to creditors will now be 60.4%. The firm, which filed for bankruptcy in 2022, initially returned around $2.53 billion to 251,000 creditors in August for the first phase of the distribution, representing 57.65% of all claims.
According to the court filing, the second payout is mostly in liquid crypto assets, with the funds converted into Bitcoin at $95,836.23 in USD to match the value of claims. However, payments to creditors will be made in cash and crypto as in the first distribution.
Meanwhile, eligible creditors must complete their KYC/AML processes for their Celsius accounts, and corporate creditors who want to receive their payout in crypto must submit a form saying they chose this payment. If they do not, they will receive their distribution in cash.
Individuals who received crypto before will also receive BTC now. However, if BTC falls below $95,836, they will receive less than 2.75% of their claims; if it rises above it, they will receive more.
For users who opt for cash or cannot receive crypto because of their distribution agent, the equivalent of their claims in BTC would be sold for US Dollars at market price once they accept the distribution. The proceeds of such sale would be transferred to them via check, wire transfer, or through other distribution agents like Paypal, Venmo, and Coinbase.
Several categories of creditors will be eligible for this payout, including all those with unsecured loan claims, retail deposit claims, and general earn claims. However, corporate creditors with Convenience Class Claims are not eligible, and creditors contesting the claims will have their distribution reserved until the claims are resolved.
Celsius mining business Ionic Digital sees leadership changes
Meanwhile, some Celsius creditors expect to recover some losses through Ionic Digital, formerly Celsius Network mining. Creditors apart from those in the convenience class have shares in the Bitcoin miner, which aims to go public by the second quarter of 2025.
The company recently announced some senior leadership changes, with Laura Schnaidt appointed as its chief legal officer after the former general counsel Charles B. Ammann left. While the reason behind Ammann’s exit is unknown, it comes at the same time as the voluntary resignations of two of the company’s directors, Emmanuel Aidoo and H. MacIntyre Gardner. Gardner, the Spirit Airlines board chairman, only recently joined the Ionic board.
With the flurry of board exits and the resignation of the company’s auditor, RSM US, there have been concerns about whether Ionic Digital can go public as planned. Some creditors have even been pushing for the liquidation of its assets.
However, the recent turnaround in the crypto market and expected regulatory clarity for the industry could position the firm for an opportunity to finally list or merge with another miner, giving creditors maximum value.
Two years later, crypto companies are still repaying creditors
Meanwhile, Celsius is one of the few crypto firms that returned a substantial part of customers’ claims after going bankrupt in the crypto meltdown in 2022. Others, such as Voyager Digital and BlockFi, have reportedly refunded a smaller percentage of their creditors’ claims, although some creditors claim they have not received anything.
Still, some of the bankrupt firms have yet to repay creditors. Crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) and exchange FTX Exchange have not made any distributions, although FTX is currently finalizing repayment plans for most creditors.
Nevertheless, some individuals connected to these bankruptcies have already been convicted. All the key FTX executives have been convicted, with the majority serving prison sentences. Celsius founder Alex Mashinksy has also been indicted on fraud charges and is set to face trial in 2025.
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