Bankruptcy court allows bids for BlockFi’s crypto mining equipment

• Crypto lender BlockFi has received approval from the bankruptcy court to invite bids for its mining equipment. 
• The deadline to submit bids is 20 February. 

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey has given the green light to BlockFi to invite bids for its crypto mining business. The approval came a week after the bankrupt crypto lender revealed its plans to sell nearly $160 million of loans backed by more than 67,000 bitcoin mining machines. 

BlockFi wants to take advantage of market conditions

According to a report by Bloomberg, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan approved BlockFi’s request to set up an auction for its crypto mining equipment two months after the crypto lender filed for bankruptcy. Francis Petrie, the lawyer representing BlockFi, revealed that the current market conditions prompted the firm to rush the auction process. 

Petrie stated:

“We’ve received substantial interest in the market for bidding purposes and current volatility in the cryptocurrency market, which means we need to act quickly.” 

Moreover, he added that his client intends to take advantage of the recent upturn in the crypto mining sector. 

According to Petrie, BlockFi has already received several bids for its mining equipment. The deadline for buyers to submit their bids is 20 February. This will be followed by an auction held one week after the deadline. Any deals made during the auction process will have to be approved by the bankruptcy court in March. 

Good news for crypto mining sector 

The crypto mining sector seems to be heading towards calmer waters after struggling with the market downturn for months. The renewed positive sentiment also prompted Celsius to look for buyers for nearly $1.3 million worth of mining equipment.

Publicly traded crypto mining firms like Argo Blockchain and Core Scientific have seen their share prices rise in the first month of 2023.