Embattled crypto lender Celsius Network has told a judge it plans to start paying back its customers by year’s end, amid an Oct. 2 hearing seeking approval for its reorganization plan.
In his opening statements at the confirmation hearing in New York, Celsius’ legal counsel Christopher Koenig said the new company dubbed “NewCo” will emerge from the proceedings with $450 million in seed funding.
A filing on Sept. 29 shows that Celsius plans to partially repay its creditors using $2.03 billion in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) and stock in the new company.
#Celsius will distribute at least $2.03B of crypto to Creditors. Meanwhile, NewCo will be seeded with up to $450 million in crypto.
NewCo has been backed by a group of companies in a consortium called Fahrenheit LLC which will manage the mining and staking business.
The judge presiding over the case, Martin Glenn, is considering whether to approve Celsius’s restructuring plan. The plan will also need to be cleared by security regulators. Despite garnering an overwhelming majority of votes in favor, it is being challenged by some creditors, according to reports.
“The Debtors arrive at Confirmation with a Plan that has the support of over 95% of voting Account Holders by both number and dollar amount,” Celsius stated in a filing presented at the confirmation hearing.
If the Celsius plan is approved, it would be one of the first failed crypto platforms from 2022 to be resurrected in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy case.
Celsius customers have been waiting to be made whole ever since the company halted withdrawals in June 2022 following the collapse of the Terra/Luna ecosystem.
Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield has resigned from the Labour Party.
The 53-year-old MP is the first to jump ship since the general election and in her resignation letter criticised the prime minister for accepting thousands of pounds worth of gifts.
She told Sir Keir Starmer the reason for leaving now is “the programme of policies you seem determined to stick to”, despite their unpopularity with the electorate and MPs.
In her letter she accused the prime minister and his top team of “sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice” which are “off the scale”.
“I’m so ashamed of what you and your inner circle have done to tarnish and humiliate our once proud party,” she said.
Since December 2019, the prime minister received £107,145 in gifts, benefits, and hospitality – a specific category in parliament’s register of MPs’ interests.
More from Politics
Ms Duffield, who has previously clashed with the prime minister on gender issues, attacked the government for pursuing “cruel and unnecessary” policies as she resigned the Labour whip.
She criticised the decision to keep the two-child benefit cap and means-test the winter fuel payment, and accused the prime minister of “hypocrisy” over his acceptance of free gifts from donors.
“Since the change of government in July, the revelations of hypocrisy have been staggering and increasingly outrageous,” she said.
“I cannot put into words how angry I and my colleagues are at your total lack of understanding about how you have made us all appear.”
Ms Duffield also mentioned the recent “treatment of Diane Abbott”, who said she thought she had been barred from standing by Labour ahead of the general election, before Sir Keir said she would be allowed to defend her Hackney North and Stoke Newington seat for the party.
Her relationship with the Labour leadership has long been strained and her decision to quit the party comes after seven other Labour MPs were suspended for rebelling by voting for a motion calling for the two-child benefit cap to be abolished.
“Someone with far-above-average wealth choosing to keep the Conservatives’ two-child limit to benefit payments which entrenches children in poverty, while inexplicably accepting expensive personal gifts of designer suits and glasses costing more than most of those people can grasp – this is entirely undeserving of holding the title of Labour prime minister,” she said.
Ms Duffield said she will continue to represent her constituents as an independent MP, “guided by my core Labour values”.