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Bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network LLC will be reborn as a new company under the management of Fahrenheit LLC, a group of bidders led by investment group Arrington Capital, which won the bid to manage the company’s assets.
Other members of Fahrenheit include the crypto mining firm US Bitcoin Corp., Proof Group, crypto entrepreneur Steven Kokinos and Ravi Kaza. The group, whose deal was announced today, will provide the working capital, management and technology required to restructure a new company based on Celsius’ assets.
Fahrenheit participated in an auction as part of the bankruptcy process to operate the lender’s assets, going up against competitors that include Novawulf Digital Management and a consortium of bidders backed by the crypto exchange Gemini Trust Co.
Celsius filed for bankruptcy in July last year with a $1.19 billion deficit on its books following the collapse of Terraform Lab’s TerraUSD stablecoin, which wiped out almost $60 billion from crypto markets. After markets tumbled in May, Celsius suspended withdrawals a month later and was eventually forced to shut down amid the downturn.
The failure of the crypto lender led New York Attorney General Letitia James to file a lawsuit against former Celsius Chief Executive Alex Mashinsky alleging that he defrauded investors out of billions by assuring them that their money was safe. At one point, deposits in Celsius had reached almost $20 billion, according to the complaint.
According to the restructuring plan, Celsius’ liquid assets will be distributed to account holders, with management fees paid to Fahrenheit. The illiquid assets, such as institutional loan portfolio and crypto mining business and alternative investments, will be managed by Fahrenheit.
“We are very pleased that our competitive auction process produced a positive result for customers, including, most prominently, hundreds of millions of dollars in lower management fee savings and increased liquid cryptocurrency distributions to Celsius’ customers,” said David Barse and Alan Carr, members of the Special Committee of the Board.
The plan will also enable the new company to restart inactive crypto mining rigs, machines that earn cryptocurrency by processing blockchain transactions. That would allow the company to rebuild its crypto mining business over time and begin to earn revenue from it.
A new Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan will be filed in the coming weeks, subject to approval from the bankruptcy court. If it’s not approved, Celsius has secured a backup bid with the Blockchain Recovery Investment Consortium, which involves Gemini Trust.
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