Bankrupt Crypto Lender Celsius Is Sparking New Interest

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New bidders have emerged for crypto lender Celsius, which will hold an auction on Tuesday to determine who will take over assets from bankrupt firms.

Why it matters: Crypto-native coalitions joining the auction contrast with stalking bidder NovaWulf, which is relatively new to digital assets.

Driving the news: According to a bankruptcy filing from last weekend, two new groups will compete with NovaWulf Digital Managements’ initial bid.

The first, Fahrenheit, is backed by venture capitalist Michael Arrington, former Algorand CEO Steven Kokinos, investment banker Ravi Kaza, along with US Data Mining Group and Proof Group. The other new bidder is Blockchain Recovery Investment Committee, backed by the Winklevoss twins. Gemini Trust, fund manager VanEck, Abra and Global X Digital.

Flashback: In February, NovaWulf submitted a proposal in which it would make a direct cash contribution of $45-55 million to a new company it would manage.

The company estimated that under its plan, around 85% of Celsius customers, those with less than $5,000 on the platform, would recover around 70% of their receivables in crypto cash. Blockchain Originated from Figure Technology.

The Other Side: In a series of tweets, Arrington laid out Fahrenheits’ vision for a revamped Celsius, which would include significant bitcoin mining assets, retail and institutional lending, a variety of commodity crypto assets, and a venture capital portfolio.

The Fahrenheits coalition and the Gemini/VanEck group revolve around familiar crypto investors.

The Plot: In his thread, Arrington originally mentioned the publicly traded crypto exchange Coinbase as part of the Fahrenheit coalition, but has since deleted the tweet.

What’s Next: The auction is set to take place Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. at the office of debtors’ attorney Kirkland & Ellis.

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