Where Voyager, Celsius Stand in Bankruptcy Proceedings
Both Celsius and Voyager have announced updates in their bankruptcy processes in the past few days
mundissima/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks
It has been nearly a year since both Celsius and Voyager declared bankruptcy following the collapse of algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD.
On July 6, 2022, Voyager filed for bankruptcy. A few days later, on July 13, Celsius followed suit.
Both lenders had paused withdrawals, transfers, and swaps in mid-June.
Let’s take a look at where each company is today in their bankruptcy proceedings.
Voyager
On Twitter, the Voyager Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors said that they were finalizing liquidation procedures, meaning that Voyager can go “effective” with its bankruptcy plan, barring any objections from parties.
“We are hopeful that initial distributions will begin in the next few weeks,” Voyager’s UCC said.
On April 26, Binance announced that it withdrew its offer to buy over $1 billion worth of assets from the bankrupt lender. This news came just days after Voyager reached a deal with the government to allow the previously blocked acquisition to move forward.
Binance’s termination means that Voyager will directly distribute cash and crypto to customers through the Voyager platform once its Chapter 11 plan is effective.
Celsius
On Thursday, Celsius announced that the Court had approved the “distribution of the remaining 6% of Eligible Users’ Distributable Custody Assets (pure custody and transferred custody below $7,575 at the time of transfer) for a total of 100% of Eligible Users’ Distributable Custody Assets.”
Previously, eligible customers had only been able to withdraw 94% of the Distributable Custody Assets.
The bankrupt lender seeks to get its books in order through a consolidation of Celsius Network Limited, its UK-based entity, and Celsius Network, its US-based entity.
A judge will decide in late July whether the consolidation should take place.
Earlier this week, the company’s former CEO Alex Mashinsky and his legal team refuted claims made by New York Attorney General Letitia James. She had alleged back in January that Mashinsky had misled investors about the health of Celsius during his tenure as CEO.
“[Mashinsky] told investors that Celsius would generate sustainably high returns by making low-risk collateralized loans to first-tier institutions and cryptocurrency exchanges as well as overcollateralized loans to retail borrowers,” the filing states.
Mashinsky also pushed back against claims that Celsius Earn accounts fall under the definition of securities.
“Critically, the ‘Earn’ accounts at issue were not securities under well-established law and the Complaint fails to plead adequately the existence of securities or commodities in Celsius’s business model.”
In late April, Celsius started and adjourned an auction with NovaWulf, Fahrenheit LLC, and the Blockchain Investment Recovery Committee. The auction is still ongoing and resumed on Friday, May 5 at noon Eastern.
Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:
- Blockworks Daily: Unpacking crypto and the markets.
- Empire: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.
- Forward Guidance: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.
- 0xResearch: Alpha directly in your inbox.
- Lightspeed: All things Solana.
- The Drop: Apps, games, memes and more.
- Supply Shock: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.
