Celsius
Alex Mashinsky sued by NY AG for allegedly hiding Celsius’ ‘dire financial condition’
New York Attorney General Letitia James has filed a lawsuit against Alex Mashinsky, alleging the Celsius founder and CEO made numerous “false and misleading statements” which led to investors losing billions. In a Jan. 5 announcement, the New York Attorney General’s office announced the lawsuit, which allegedly involved defrauding investors — including more than 26,000 residents of the U.S. state — out of billions of dollars worth of crypto. According to James, Mashinsky’s actions leading up to Celsius declaring bankruptcy contributed to investor losses by misrepresenting the platform’s financial condition and failing to abide by certain regulatory requirements. “As the former CEO of Celsius, Alex Mashinsky promised to lead investors to financial freedom but led them down a path of f...
Judge rules Celsius owns funds in Earn accounts, paving the way for stablecoin sale
Judge Martin Glenn, who is presiding over the Celsius bankruptcy case, ruled on Jan. 4 that the funds in the Celsius interest-bearing Earn program belong to Celsius under the terms of the program’s terms of use. The funds reportedly amount to more than $4 billion. “The issue of ownership of the assets in the Earn Accounts is a contract law issue,” the U.S. bankruptcy judge wrote, citing the latest version of the Earn program’s terms of use. Those terms state that lending platform Celsius held “all right and title to such Eligible Digital Assets, including ownership rights.” Related: Core Scientific shuts down 37K mining rigs it was hosting for Celsius The judge called the terms of use “unambiguous,” and pointed out that, if the funds in question belong to the debtor, their retur...
10 crypto tweets that aged like milk: 2022 edition
To put it lightly, it has been a wild year for the crypto sector. In the span of less than 12 months, the third-most valuable stablecoin imploded, leading to a domino effect that saw crypto lender Celsius go bankrupt, Three Arrows Capital’s founders go runabout and one of crypto’s most “altruistic” executives flown home in cuffs. In this article, Cointelegraph has selected 10 crypto-related tweets that have aged like spoilt milk. Do Kwon — “Steady lads” On May 10, just as the algo-stablecoin formerly known as TerraUSD started to fall below its dollar peg, the Terraform Labs founder attempted to allay fears of a further depeg, tweeting: “Deploying more capital – steady lads.” Well, we all know what happened after. The collapse of the Terra ecosystem in May 2022 saw more than $40 billi...
7 biggest crypto collapses of 2022 the industry would like to forget
2022 has been a bumpy year for the cryptocurrency market, with one of the worst bear markets on record and the downfall of some major platforms within the space. The global economy is beginning to feel the consequences of the pandemic, and clearly, this has had an influence on the crypto industry. Below is a breakdown of some of the biggest disappointments in the crypto space this year. Axie Infinity’s Ronin Bridge hacked In March of this year, Ronin, the blockchain network that runs the popular nonfungible token (NFT) crypto game Axie Infinity, was hacked for $625 million. The hacker took 173,600 Ether (ETH) and 25.5 million USD Coin (USDC) from the Ronin bridge in two transactions. When the Lazarus Group started its attack, five of the nine private keys for the Ronin Network’s cross-chai...
Crypto can get weird: The 5 strangest stories of the industry in 2022
From Terra to FTX, 2022 has given us many weird crypto stories. While investors have been enduring a bear market that saw the crypto industry sink below the $1 trillion market capitalization mark, adoption in the space has been growing, and old mysteries were finally solved. From the incredible short squeeze of a bankrupt company’s token to old anti-crypto arguments used by a major central bank, we’re getting weird with five stories the best fiction writers couldn’t dream up. “Comedic rapper” charged over Bitfinex hack Back in 2016, popular cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex suffered a major security breach that saw attackers steal 119,756 Bitcoin (BTC), worth approximately $72 million at the time. It was one of the largest crypto hacks in history, and although Bitfinex continued operating, ...
Celsius bankruptcy case Trustee slams $3M employee bonus motion
The United States Trustee overseeing the Celsius Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, William Harrington, has objected to a Celsius motion that would see 62 of its 275 employees paid a retention bonus totaling $2.96 million. The Trustee has blasted Celsius in its supporting statement for the objection filed on Oct. 27, noting: “It defies logic, not to mention the Bankruptcy Code, that a company where the majority of its functions are no longer providing services, would now propose a multi-million dollar bonus scheme.” For the “bonus motion,” as it is aptly named, to receive approval, the Trustee claims that Celsius must show that the bonuses are reasonable based on the facts of the case. Without any identifiable metrics, the Trustee says Celsius has failed to do so. While the objection does not inf...
Almost 50% of Gen Z and Millennials want crypto in retirement funds: Survey
Nearly half of Gen Z and Millennials want to see crypto become a part of their 401(k) retirement plans, according to an October survey from United States asset manager Charles Schwab. Asking participants what they would like to see added to their 401(k) retirement products, the firm found that 46% of Gen Z and 45% of Millennials said they “wish” they could invest in cryptocurrencies as part of their retirement planning. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, as the survey also found that 43% of Gen Z and 47% of Millennials are investing in cryptocurrencies outside their 401(k) already, which could suggest the group’s affinity for the asset class. The asset manager surveyed 1,100 401(k) retirement plan participants aged between 21 to 70 to complete the 10-minut...
DOJ objects to Celsius plans to reopen withdrawals and sell stablecoins
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has submitted an objection to Celsius’ motion to reopen withdrawals for select customers and sell its stablecoin holdings. The DOJ is asserting that the state of Celsius’ financials are lacking transparency, and that key decisions like this should not be considered until the independent examiner report has been filed. The move by the DOJ adds to the objections filed last week by the Texas State Securities Board, the Texas Department of Banking, and the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation. All three are opposed to Celsius selling its stablecoin holdings, asserting there’s a risk the firm could use the capital to resume operating in violation of state laws. In a Sept. 30 filing with the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, a U.S. Trus...
Sam Bankman-Fried sheds light on how FTX would approach a Celsius bid
FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried have shared details on how his firm would approach a buy-up of Celsius’ tassets. The comments come in light of FTX US snapping up bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital’s assets for $1.3 billion via auction last week and a recent report that FTX was considering a bid for Celsius’ assets as well. Responding to a tweet from BnkToTheFuture founder Simon Dixon alleging FTX was “raising finance at a $32Billion valuation” in order to buy Celsius’ assets at “cents on the dollar,” Bankman-Fried clarified that his firm’s bid is determined at “fair market price, no discounts.” You up for discussing a plan to make up the difference with equity? I have some ideas that will make the community very happy with the ...
Texas, Vermont regulators object to Celsius stablecoin sale plan
State regulators from Texas and Vermont have filed a motion objecting to embattled crypto lender Celsius’ plans to sell off its stablecoin holdings. Separate motions from both regulators filed on Sept. 29 argue that there’s a risk the firm could use the capital to resume operating in violation of state laws. The filings come after a Sept. 15 notice from Celsius’ legal team asking the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York for permission to sell its stablecoin holdings, reportedly worth around $23 million. A hearing to accept or decline the motion will occur on Oct. 6. However, the move has not gone down well with the Texas State Securities Board (SBB), the Texas Department of Banking, and the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation, who filed obj...
Lawyers for Celsius investors file motion to have interests represented in court
An international law firm representing groups of Celsius investors has filed a motion to appoint a committee to represent their interests in the crypto lending firm’s bankruptcy case. In a Thursday filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York, lawyers with the law firm Milbank requested the appointment of an “Official Preferred Equity Committee” to represent certain Celsius shareholders. According to the filing, the equity holders “urgently require their own fiduciary” for representation in court alongside Celsius debtors and an Unsecured Creditors Committee, or UCC. “The need for a fiduciary to pursue the Equity Holders’ interests is particularly critical when one considers the practical realities of these cases: There are only two groups of real ...
‘Go to jail:’ Community roasts Celsius-themed Monopoly board game
The crypto community is having a field day mocking a new Celsius-themed Monopoly board game named “Celsiusopoly,” which has emerged on a United States-based online e-commerce marketplace. The announcement of the Celsius-themed board game came from the marketplace’s head of sales and partnerships Stephanie Martin, who said the planning and production of the Monopoly spin-off came on the back of “months and months” of hard work. After months and months of back and forth, redesign, negotiating, editing and importing files, etc. we finally have a finished product. #onwardandupward #Celsians pic.twitter.com/vHjN6xWZIJ — Stephanie Martin (@stephusastrong) September 7, 2022 According to the marketplace’s website, the Celsiusopoly board game is selling for $99.00, and some s...
