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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has opposed the restructuring plan of the cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius Networks, which filed for bankruptcy last year. Part of the reason for this opposition is related to the ongoing lawsuit between the SEC and the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.
On September 22nd, the SEC filed limited objections and reservations of rights against Celsius's recent restructuring plan with the U.S. Southern District of New York bankruptcy court. Celsius Networks had submitted this restructuring plan as early as August 15th, and it is currently the fourth version, as the preliminary plan submitted in March was not approved.
The supplementary content of the restructuring plan includes an agreement with Coinbase regarding Distribution Services, with Celsius seeking to submit information to the court in secret rather than becoming public records. However, the SEC has opposed this, stating that this transaction might require Coinbase to provide services far beyond the scope of what distribution agencies typically offer. This relates to issues that the SEC raised in its civil suit against Coinbase in June, which concerned the services in question.
The main issue at hand is that this plan, which would utilize Coinbase's services, may raise many of the SEC's concerns about Coinbase's role as an intermediary connecting cryptocurrency buyers and sellers.
In response, Coinbase's Chief Legal Officer tweeted, "I'm curious why the SEC would oppose a trusted US public company taking on this role?"
The document states, "The debtor has acknowledged that it has no intention of engaging Coinbase to act as a broker for the debtor's benefit, despite the debtor's agreement to the contrary in the Coinbase agreement. Nevertheless, the court should not be asked to approve a transaction that does not include or is inconsistent with the essential terms."
Celsius has been revising its restructuring plan since March, and during the same period, Coinbase has faced an SEC lawsuit alleging the offering of unregistered securities. On September 25th, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal posted on the community platform X, expressing Coinbase's happiness "to collaborate with Celsius" in efforts to return user funds.
Previously, Celsius had announced an agreement with Core Scientific, with Core Scientific agreeing to sell a mining data center to Celsius for $14 million in cash to resolve legal issues between the two companies. However, Celsius subsequently filed for bankruptcy, and according to Core Scientific, Celsius has continuously delayed payments since its bankruptcy filing in July.
The next hearing for the bankruptcy case is scheduled for October 5th. |
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Post time 30-9-2023 11:06:37