Crypto exchanges Gemini and Coinbase enter the fray as new bidders for the assets of bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network in an upcoming auction.
The auction for the assets of the bankrupt Celsius Network is set for April 25th in New York, and two new consortiums have emerged to compete for Celsius assets.
Court filings and reports reveal that crypto exchanges Gemini and Coinbase are among the companies participating in the bids.
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Court documents revealed that one of the consortiums aiming to acquire Celsius assets is Fahrenheit. The consortium is backed by venture capital firm Arrington Capital, owned by blockchain investor Michael Arrington, Proof Group Capital Management, former Algorand CEO Steven Kokinos, and investment banker Ravi Kaza.
According to the Fortune report, in a now-deleted tweet shared on April 22nd, Arrington claimed that Coinbase was one of the companies supporting the Fahrenheit consortium. Despite such announcements, Coinbase declined to comment on the matter.
On top of that, the court documents revealed that the Blockchain Recovery Investment Committee is also bidding for bankrupt crypto lender's assets. The committee is backed by Bitcoin (BTC) mining firm Global X Digital, Plutus Lending, crypto exchange Gemini and fund manager VanEck.
These consortiums are competing for Celsius assets against "stalking horse bidder" NovaWulf Digital Management. The "stalking horse bidder" is the entity that is an initial bidder of a bankrupt company and sets the standard for other bidders.
In its proposal, NovaWulf offers a direct cash contribution of up to $55 million and the creation of a new public platform owned by Celsius creditors. Under NovaWulf's proposal, customers could recover up to 70% of their funds.
Arrington's tweets suggest that the Fahrenheit consortium also plans to create a new company to grow assets to compensate stakeholders. In his tweet, Arrington noted:
Our bid not structured as a simple asset purchase. We are proposing that the assets be placed into a new company and is run with the sole goal of growing those assets to make stakeholders whole.
The firm would be managed by "a group of proven crypto operators" and possess "substantial Bitcoin mining assets, retail and institutional loans, a variety of crypto core assets, and a venture capital portfolio."
This auction is a significant milestone for Celsius customers seeking to recover their funds after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 2022.
At the end of March, peer-to-peer crypto marketplace Paxful revealed that all Earn program participants who lost funds due to the Celsius Network collapse will be made whole.
