Celsius’ Bankruptcy Plan Administrator Pays Out Over $2.5B

Celsius’ bankruptcy administrator has distributed more than $2.53 billion to some 251,000 creditors, it said in its first status report on the payouts.
The disbursements were made in liquid cryptocurrency and cash at Jan. 16 prices. They cover roughly two-thirds of all eligible creditors of the crypto lender by number and about 93% of the eligible value, the administrator said in a Monday court filing. Another 121,000 eligible creditors with an average distribution of approximately $1,500 have yet to successfully claim their distributions.
“Approximately 64,000 of these remaining creditors have a distribution of less than $100, and approximately 41,000 more have a distribution of between $100 and $1,000,” the filing said. “Given the small amounts at issue for many of these creditors, they may not be incentivized to take the steps needed to successfully claim a distribution.”
The bankruptcy is officially closed after the United States Southern District of New York Bankruptcy Court approved a reorganization plan in November. The plan to distribute more than $3 billion to Celsius creditors was determined at the end of January. In the seven months since, the “distribution process contemplated by the Plan is likely the most complicated and ambitious distribution process ever attempted in a chapter 11 case,” the filing said.
The plan involves distributing liquid crypto, cash and common stock in MiningCo – the new company that evolved out of Celsius – to around 375,000 creditors in over 165 different countries. Because “Celsius was not a fully regulatorily compliant business prepetition, and many regulators were pursuing enforcement actions against the Debtors” the complexity of the distribution process has increased, the filing said.
Earlier this month, Celsius asked the bankruptcy court to order Tether to relinquish bitcoin worth some $3.3 billion based on allegations that Tether labeled a “shakedown” litigation that it would contest.
Read More: Celsius to Distribute $3B Crypto to Creditors as Firm Emerges From Bankruptcy
Edited by Sheldon Reback.

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Amitoj Singh is a CoinDesk reporter.