Celsius
will
be
shipping
out
more
than
$3
billion
to
its
creditors
as
its
the
firm’s
bankruptcy
is
officially
closed.
Apart
from
the
cash,
creditors
will
get
a
stake
in
the
newly
formed
Ionic
Digital
Inc.
mining
operation,
the
company
said
in
a
statement
on
Wednesday.
About
98%
of
Celsius
Network’s
creditors
signed
off
on
the
plan
after
18
months
in
bankruptcy
court.
Ionic
is
expected
to
become
a
publicly
traded
company
once
it
clears
approvals.
“When
we
were
appointed
in
June
2022,
everyone
assumed
Celsius
would
disappear
completely
like
the
other
crypto
lenders
that
were
filing
bankruptcy
around
the
same
time,”
said
David
Barse
and
Alan
Carr,
members
of
the
special
board
committee
that
steered
the
bankruptcy,
in
a
statement.
They
said
they
managed
to
secure
the
platform’s
cryptocurrency,
negotiate
a
deal
with
creditors,
reorganize
the
part
of
the
company
that
could
continue
and
settled
cases
with
the
U.S.
Department
of
Justice,
Securities
and
Exchange
Commission
and
Commodity
Futures
Trading
Commission.
Matt
Prusak,
the
chief
commercial
officer
of
Hut
8,
the
company
managing
Ionic’s
mining,
has
been
named
Ionic’s
CEO.
In
a
separate
filing,
the
firm
said
PayPal
and
Coinbase
will
distribute
the
cryptocurrencies.
Celsius
will
make
no
distributions
through
the
debtors’
mobile
or
web
applications,
which
will
be
shut
down
on
or
around
Feb.
28.
Crypto
lender
Celsius’s
bankruptcy
process
also
saw
it
make
a
$4.7
billion
settlement
with
U.S.
authorities
over
fraud
allegations.
Former
CEO
Alex
Mashinsky
–
who
had
resigned
in
September,
2022
–
was
arrested
on
fraud
charges
for
allegedly
manipulating
the
price
of
the
lender’s
CEL
token,
an
allegation
he
has
denied.
Mashinsky
was
released
on
a
$40
million
bond,
and
a
court
ordered
his
banking
and
real
estate
assets
frozen.
His
trial
is
scheduled
for
September
2024.
