- A U.S. judge has allowed Celsius Mining to sell the bitcoin it holds
- Creditors had asked for more time to assess Celsius Mining’s plans, citing a lack of trust over its business acumen
- The judge allowed the sale of the bitcoin but not other assets or equity
A New York judge has allowed Celsius Mining, a subsidiary of Celsius, to sell the bitcoin it mined following a legal challenge by creditors. Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn on Tuesday allowed Celsius Mining to go ahead with its plans to sell its bitcoin holdings, but disallowed its plans to sell equity and other assets that he didn’t consider “de minimis”. Creditors were worried that Celsius Mining wasn’t making the right decision in selling the bitcoin it mined, questioning its business acumen given how Celsius itself handled its affairs.
Creditors Didn’t Trust Celsius to Make the Right Decision
Creditors had petitioned the court to force Celsius Mining to halt its plans to sell its bitcoin, asking for insight into the intended sale, including how the sales would be carried out and how the proceeds from the sale would be used.
Celsius Mining had initially said that it would use the funds to pay back creditors, but this proposal drew criticism from the creditor committee and the U.S. Department of Justice. The creditors’ legal team had said that the actions of Celsius in the past “raise legitimate concerns” over how they would handle the sale of the bitcoin, with the concerns “rooted in the significant questions regarding how the Debtors operated their businesses prepetition.”
Celsius Set to Run Out of Cash by October
On Tuesday however, Judge Glenn said he would respect the company’s business judgement over the sale of the bitcoin and would allow it to proceed, although he expressed concern that the mining operation would not be immediately profitable since Celsius needs to make additional investments to get its mining facilities running at full capacity again.
Celsius’ own financial projection shows that it is likely to run out of cash by October, so this sale of bitcoin, the amount of which is undisclosed, will undoubtedly help towards extending its life, even if it is only temporary.
