Celsius amasses 30 potential bidders for its assets, withdrawal motion approved

Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network has attracted 30 potential bidders over its various assets including its retail platform and mining business.

According to a company presentation filed on Dec. 20, more than 125 parties were contacted since September, with 30 potential bidders executing non-disclosure agreements — a legal contract used to protect sensitive information about a company or the bidding terms — typically required during negotiations.

Celsius said that so far, it has received multiple bids proposing a variety of potential transaction and business structures to acquire its assets — such as migrating Celsius customers to the acquirer’s platform along with a haircut of their assets — among other structures.

The lending platform also revealed it had received a number of single asset bids.

With the bidding deadline reached on Dec. 12, the auction for Celsius' various assets is now set for Jan. 10, 2023, after being pushed back from the original date of Dec. 15, according to earlier documents filed by Celsius.

The latest presentation notes that as of Nov. 25 the company held coins valued at approximately $2.6 billion, but after this is combined with the value of its non-coin assets they are still $1.2 billion short of being able to pay off all debts.

Its ongoing mining operations have been successful however, with Celsius claiming that it has generated positive operating cash flow every month this year as it continues to deploy more mining rigs.

Related: BlockFi files motion to return frozen crypto to wallet users

In related news, on Dec. 20 bankruptcy judge Martin Glenn has just granted a motion previously filed by Celsius on Sep. 1, allowing them to reopen withdrawals for a minority of their customers.

The assets eligible to be withdrawn are those that were only ever held in the Custody Program and for amounts less than $7,575 which were transferred from Earn or Borrow Programs into the Custody program within 90 days of its filing for bankruptcy on Jul. 13.

The order also applies to "ineligible Withhold Assets," with assets included in this definition to be determined following meetings between Celsius, the Withhold Ad Hoc Group and the Celsius Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors.