Celsius Network remains open to further bids following NovaWulf’s bid

By Dietrich Knauth

(Reuters) – The bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network said Wednesday it has spoken to another potential buyer and will be soliciting additional bids, despite having an offer from asset manager NovaWulf Digital Management.

Celsius attorney Chris Koenig said at a hearing in Manhattan bankruptcy court that the company remains open to better offers and that it and its creditors’ committee met with a potential buyer two days ago to review an alternative proposal.

At the hearing, the New Jersey-based lender asked U.S. bankruptcy judge Martin Glenn, who oversees Chapter 11 of Celsius, for more time to present a bankruptcy restructuring plan based on the NovaWulf deal and customers with less than $5,000 -Dollar would pay out crypto deposits and hand over the company’s remaining assets to customers with larger accounts.

Glenn agreed to give Celsius three additional weeks to submit a Chapter 11 plan.

With NovaWulf’s offer in hand, Celsius should be able to complete bankruptcy by June, less than a year after it filed for Chapter 11, Koenig said.

If Celsius selects an alternative bidder, Koenig intends to offer NovaWulf up to $20 million in breakup fees.

“If there is a higher offer, it’s because of NovaWulf’s dregs,” said Koenig.

NovaWulf did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Crypto lenders like Celsius boomed during the COVID-19 pandemic, but many companies in the highly connected sector went bankrupt in 2022.

Celsius filed for US bankruptcy in July after freezing customer withdrawals. Celsius said at the time it had more than 1.7 million registered users and approximately 300,000 active users with balances in excess of $100.

(Reporting by Dietrich Knauth, editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and David Gregorio)