The bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Celsius has been given permission to start selling or exchanging altcoins for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), according to Judge Martin Glenn of the US Southern District Court of New York.
The primary Celsius Network token, CEL, had a significant rise in price on Friday and is currently trading above $0.15, up 33% on the past day.
From July 1, Celsius can offer alternative currencies for Bitcoin and Ethereum
The judge ruled that the liquidation of the aforementioned altcoins begins on or after July 1 and comes before a scheduled distribution of assets to creditors.
Part of the decision states, “The Debtors may sell or convert any non-BTC and non-ETH cryptocurrency, crypto tokens, or other cryptocurrency assets (collectively, the “Altcoins”) to BTC or ETH beginning on or after July 1, 2023, in consultation with the advisors to the Committee.
“Commercially reasonable efforts” are expected to be made by Celsius to “maximize the value of the Altcoins to be sold or converted to BTC or ETH.” The SEC recently claimed that some of the altcoins owned by the crypto lender were securities, therefore the sales are anticipated to adhere to the “applicable exemptions to the US securities laws.”
Cardano (ADA), Polygon (MATIC), and Near (NEAR) are a few of the tokens that the US government recently singled out as securities in its actions against Binance and Coinbase. Along with these, Celsius also handles Litecoin (LTC), Chainlink (LINK), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).
Also Read: Binance Lawsuit: The SEC Now Considers 61 Cryptocurrencies To Be Securities
The tokens have lately increased in value along with the overall crypto market, so it is unclear if the dumping will have an impact on prices.
Here are the Celsius alts FWIW, these will be sold and the proceeds used to buy BTC and ETH. https://t.co/Bp7MWUhstB
— Hal Press (@NorthRockLP) June 30, 2023
After halting customer withdrawals due to the crypto contagion caused by the failure of Terra and Three Arrows Capital, Celsius declared bankruptcy in July 2022.
In order to revise its restructuring plan to solely deliver cryptocurrency to creditors in the form of bitcoin and ether, the company reportedly has been in contact with the SEC and state regulators.