Fahrenheit to acquire bankrupt crypto lender Celsius

• Court documents reveal that Fahrenheit has won the bid to acquire Celsius Network.
• The Fahrenheit group must provide a $10 million deposit within three days to complete the process.

Cryptocurrency consortium Fahrenheit has won the bid to acquire insolvent crypto lender Celsius Network, court documents revealed.

Fahrenheit will acquire Celsius Network’s institutional loan portfolio, staked cryptocurrencies, mining unit and other alternative ventures.

To finalise the arrangement, the group must provide a $10 million deposit within three days. The assets acquired by Celsius were originally valued at over $2 billion.

After a protracted auction, Fahrenheit was chosen as the winning bidder. Fahrenheit is a consortium of buyers that includes venture capital company Arrington Capital and bitcoin miner US Bitcoin Corp.

The Blockchain Recovery Investment Consortium (BRIC), including Van Eck Absolute Return Advisers Corp and GXD Labs, secured the backup position. Rival bidder NovaWulf, which was initially favored, eventually lost out.

Acquisition process underway

According to the terms of the arrangement, the new venture would get a considerable quantity of liquid crypto assets, worth around $450-$500 million.

While Celsius and its creditors have approved the deal, regulatory permission is still required for the transaction to be completed.

Martin Glenn, a bankruptcy court judge, had previously warned about potential “regulatory roadblocks” that may stymie Celsius’s sale.

Similarly, Binance.US halted its acquisition of Voyager’s assets worth $1 billion when federal officials challenged the deal, citing the unclear regulatory norms in the United States.

Celsius plans to negotiate and publish a plan sponsor agreement with Fahrenheit and a backup plan sponsor agreement with BRIC. It also plans a revised Chapter 11 plan, and a disclosure statement in the coming weeks, all of which are subject to bankruptcy court approval.

Following a sharp decline in the value of crypto assets, Celsius declared bankruptcy in July 2022 as a result of a rush of withdrawals that seemed like a bank run, highlighting underlying liquidity issues.

Its demise predicted a turbulent time for the crypto business. Itwas followed by the demise of other notable exchanges, lenders, and venture capital firms, resulting in a lengthy “crypto winter.”