Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius has been granted permission to begin liquidating its altcoins into Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH).
This will occur before distributions to creditors take place, who expect to receive their assets denominated only in the top two cryptocurrencies by market cap.
- According to Bankruptcy judge Martin Glenn, Celsius “may sell or convert any non-BTC and non-ETH cryptocurrency, crypto tokens, or other cryptocurrency assets other than such tokens that are associated with Withhold or Custody accounts … to BTC or ETH commencing on or after July 1, 2023,”
- The approval comes after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) named a slew of top altcoins as unregistered securities in two major crypto industry lawsuits.
- Celsius has been in contact with the SEC to “ensure that all such distributions are in full compliance with applicable federal and state laws and regulations,” the filing stated.
- A consortium of crypto investors called Farenheit won an auction to acquire Celsius’ assets last month. The consortium includes US Bitcoin Corp, Proof Group Capital Management LLC, Ravi Kaza, former Algorand CEO Steven Kokinos, and Coinbase.
- Celsius had a reported 1.7 million users when it failed last year, including 300,000 with balances of over $100.