Celsius to return customer funds as January auction attracts 30 bidders

• Celsius Network is set to hold auctions for its assets in January 2023.
• 30 potential bidders have already signed non-disclosure agreements.
• The crypto lender has also been given a green light to return some of the customers’ funds.

The bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network is set to hold an auction of its assets on January 10 and it has already received 30 potential bidders. The auction was originally set to be held on December 15 this year but has since been pushed to next year.

With the bidding deadline of December 12 already passed, 125 parties have been contacted so far and 30 potential bidders have already signed non-disclosure agreements.

The assets set to be auctioned include Celsius retail platform and mining business.

The crypto lender has received several bids proposing different business structures and potential transactions from bidders looking to acquire its assets. For example, some have suggested migrating Celsius customers to the acquirer’s platform along with the assets.

Celsius also revealed that it has received a number of single-asset bids.

As of November 25, Celsius company held crypto assets worth about $2.6 billion. However, even with that many assets, Celsius is still $1.2 billion short of being able to pay off its debts even if it were to combine its crypto assets with its non-crypto assets.

Despite filing for bankruptcy on July 13 this year, the Celsius mining operations have been successful, generating positive operating cash flow every month this year as the company continues to deploy additional mining rigs.

Reopening withdrawals

On December 20, bankruptcy judge Martin Glenn approved a motion that Celsius had filed on September 1 and allowed the company to reopen withdrawals for some of its customers.

 The assets that will be eligible for withdrawal are “ineligible Withhold Assets,” the amounts less than $7,575 held in the custody program, and funds that were transferred from the Earn or Borrow Program into the custody program within 90 days of Celsius filing for the Chapter 11.