Crypto Lender Celsius Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

Distressed cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius Network has filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.

What Happened: In a press release on Wednesday, the company said it had initiated voluntary petitions for reorganization in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

“This is the right decision for our community and company,” said Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky.

“I am confident that when we look back at the history of Celsius, we will see this as a defining moment, where acting with resolve and confidence served the community and strengthened the future of the company.”

See Also: Crypto Lender Operated Ponzi Scheme, Former Employee Alleges In Lawsuit

Celsius has $167 million cash on hand, which will support certain operations during the restructuring process. The company has filed a set of motions to allow it to continue paying its employees during this time, but has not requested court approval for authority to reinstate customer withdrawals.

The news comes after Celsius repaid its “last major outstanding debt,” Decrypt reported earlier today. The cryptocurrency lender repaid $50 million DAI and got back its 10,000 Wrapped Bitcoin WBTC/USD worth $200 million. WBTC is tokenized Bitcoin BTC/USD on the Ethereum ETH/USD blockchain.

Over the last two weeks, Celsius repaid the Maker protocol and received $400 million and Aave AAVE/USD and retrieved $415 million worth of collateral.

See Also: Celsius Sent $500M Wrapped Bitcoin To FTX: Selloff Imminent?

Price Action: According to data from Benzinga Pro, the platform’s native token Celsius CEL/USD was trading at $0.70 at press time, down 4.84% over 24 hours.

Photo via mundissima on Shutterstock