Coinbase and Gemini join bidding race for Celsius Network assets: report

Coinbase and Gemini join bidding race for Celsius Network assets: report

Leading cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase and Gemini are part of two consortia that will bid for the assets of bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network at an auction scheduled for Tuesday, April 25, 2023, according to a court filing and a report from Fortune.

The courtdocumentannounced that the auction would take place starting at 2 p.m. EPT at the New York offices of Kirkland and Ellis, the law firm handling Celsius' bankruptcy.

Coinbase and Gemini want to bid for Celsius assets

One consortium looking to acquire Celsius is Fahrenheit, a group backed by blockchain-based venture capital firm Arrington Capital and its founder Michael Arrington Mining Group, alongside US Data. Other backers include Proof Group Capital Management, former Algorand CEO Steven Kokinos and investment banker Ravi Kaza.

In a tweet on Saturday, Arrington mentioned Coinbase's participation discuss Fahrenheit's involvement in the bidding process. The famous venture capitalist deleted the tweet for unknown reasons andCoin basecouldn't comment.

On the other hand, the second consortium is called Blockchain Recovery Investment Committee. It is supported byGemini trusta company co-owned by the Winklevoss twins, fund manager Van Eck, Bitcoin mining company Global X Digital and Plutus Lending.

The two consortia will take part in the auction together with the asset manager NovaWulf, the stalking horse bidder. A stalking horse bidder is the first bidder for a bankrupt company, setting the bar for other bidders before an auction.

New bidders will most likely win

NovaWulf's proposed plan would see Celsius General Earn creditors who have deposited less than $5,000 on the platform,receiveabout 70% of their funds in liquid crypto assets. Users with Earn Claims of more than $5,000 will receive liquid crypto assets and tokenized equity on the new Celsius platform, which is fully owned by creditors.

People familiar with the mattertoldLuckily, one of the two consortiums will most likely win the auction because they are backed by well-known crypto companies that, unlike NovaWulf, could capture more value by operating rather than liquidating the majority of Celsius' assets.

Assets include stakes in several venture capital-backed startups, a loan book, and many crypto mining machines that could bring immediate returns to its new owner.

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