Leading cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase and Gemini are parts of the two consortiums set to bid for bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network’s assets at an auction scheduled for Tuesday, the 25th of April, 2023, according to a court filing and report from Fortune.
The court document revealed that the auction would be held at the New York offices of Kirkland and Ellis, the law firm handling Celsius’ bankruptcy, from 2 pm EPT.
Coinbase and Gemini to Bid for Celsius’ Assets
One consortium seeking to take over Celsius is Fahrenheit, a group backed by blockchain-based venture capital firm Arrington Capital and its founder Michael Arrington, alongside US Data Mining Group. Other backers include Proof Group Capital Management, former Algorand CEO Steven Kokinos, and investment banker Ravi Kaza.
In a Saturday tweet, Arrington mentioned Coinbase’s participation while discussing Fahrenheit’s involvement in the bidding process. The famous venture capitalist deleted the tweet for unknown reasons, and Coinbase failed to comment.
On the other hand, the second consortium is called Blockchain Recovery Investment Committee. It is backed by Gemini Trust, a company co-owned by the Winklevoss twins, fund manager Van Eck, Bitcoin mining firm Global X Digital, and Plutus Lending.
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The two consortiums will participate in the auction alongside asset manager NovaWulf, the stalking horse bidder. A stalking horse bidder is the first bidder for a bankrupt company that sets the bar for other bidders ahead of an auction.
New Bidders Most Likely to Win
NovaWulf’s proposed plan will see Celsius general Earn creditors, who deposited less than $5,000 on the platform, receive about 70% of their funds in liquid crypto assets. Users with Earn claims of more than $5,000 will receive liquid crypto assets and tokenized equity on the new Celsius platform wholly owned by the creditors.
People familiar with the matter told Fortune that one of the two consortiums is most likely to win the auction because they are backed by well-known crypto entities that could extract more value by operating instead of liquidating the bulk of Celsius’ assets, unlike NovaWulf.
The assets include holdings in several venture capital-backed startups, a loan book, and many crypto mining machines that could generate immediate returns for their new owner.
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