Celsius to distribute $127 million in second phase of bankruptcy payouts

With the distribution, the defunct lender’s total payout to creditors will now be 60.4%. The firm, which filed for bankruptcy in 2022, initially returned around $2.53 billion to 251,000 creditors in August for the first phase of the distribution, representing 57.65% of all claims.

Celsius mining business Ionic Digital sees leadership changes

Meanwhile, some Celsius creditors expect to recover some losses through Ionic Digital , formerly Celsius Network mining. Creditors apart from those in the convenience class have shares in the Bitcoin miner, which aims to go public by the second quarter of 2025.

The company recently announced some senior leadership changes, with Laura Schnaidt appointed as its chief legal officer after the former general counsel Charles B. Ammann left. While the reason behind Ammann’s exit is unknown, it comes at the same time as the voluntary resignations of two of the company’s directors, Emmanuel Aidoo and H. MacIntyre Gardner. Gardner, the Spirit Airlines board chairman, only recently joined the Ionic board.

With the flurry of board exits and the resignation of the company’s auditor, RSM US, there have been concerns about whether Ionic Digital can go public as planned. Some creditors have even been pushing for the liquidation of its assets.

However, the recent turnaround in the crypto market and expected regulatory clarity for the industry could position the firm for an opportunity to finally list or merge with another miner, giving creditors maximum value.

Two years later, crypto companies are still repaying creditors

Meanwhile, Celsius is one of the few crypto firms that returned a substantial part of customers’ claims after going bankrupt in the crypto meltdown in 2022. Others, such as Voyager Digital and BlockFi, have reportedly refunded a smaller percentage of their creditors’ claims, although some creditors claim they have not received anything.

Still, some of the bankrupt firms have yet to repay creditors. Crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) and exchange FTX Exchange have not made any distributions, although FTX is currently finalizing repayment plans for most creditors.

Nevertheless, some individuals connected to these bankruptcies have already been convicted. All the key FTX executives have been convicted, with the majority serving prison sentences. Celsius founder  Alex Mashinksy has also been indicted on fraud charges and is set to face trial in 2025.