Celsius revival plan appears to include issuing wrapped assets

Quick Take

  • Another recording of Celsius’ leadership indicates the firm’s proposal includes issuing tradable wrapped assets to customers.
  • Celsius will have to present any proposal in court and get approval before moving forward. 

A newly leaked recording of Celsius' leadership further details executives' proposal to pay back customers, which includes issuing new wrapped assets to trade on other platforms.

The firm's co-founder and CTO Nuke Goldstein appears to give a more in-depth explanation of the firm's proposal to repay Earn customers in the recording posted by Tiffany Fong, the Celsius customer and public figure credited with posting the previous leaked all-hands meeting recording.

The idea is to funnel Celsius' remaining funds allocated to repaying customers into wallets, then issue wrapped tokens, known as Cx tokens, to represent the ratio of how much the firm owes to how much it has on hand. For example, customers waiting to redeem their bitcoin will receive CxBTC tokens.

Customers can redeem their wrapped tokens or wait for a larger payout when additional revenue hits. Goldstein pointed to incoming mining, staked ETH revenue and other coins that may become liquid.

"So the more you wait, there’s a better chance that the gap will be closed," he said on the recording. "However, you can always redeem."

In addition to the redemption mechanism, Goldstein says Celsius plans to enable trading for the wrapped tokens on other venues. Users could withdraw their tokens and go to Uniswap or other platforms and allow the market to price the tokens, he said. 

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Representatives for Celsius and the creditor committee were not immediately available for comment.

Fong said she obtained this recording on Sept. 1, prior to receiving the leaked all-hands meeting recording. Because of the time lag, Fong noted that Celsius' plans could have changed in the days since she received the file.

Celsius entered Chapter 11 proceedings in July of this year and has since been winding its way through the bankruptcy process with customers hoping for a return of their assets. Two weeks ago, a recording of CEO Alex Mashinsky circulated in which he detailed a plan to revive the company, code-named Kelvin, at a company all-hands meeting.

The creditor committee, which represents the interests of customers and creditors in the bankruptcy process, confirmed that Mashinsky had met with them and presented a proposal. However, the committee refrained from publicly stating an opinion on the proposal. Creditor committee counsel Gregory Pesce told the court at that time that the team is in talks with Celsius and wants the company to file a full plan in court. 

During that hearing, a judge ruled to appoint an outside examiner to conduct an investigation into Celsius' management and financials – a rare measure deemed necessary due to perceived inconsistencies in executives' statements and "extreme financial irregularities."


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About Author

Aislinn Keely is a reporter on The Block's policy team holding down the legal beat. She covers court decisions, bankruptcies, regulatory actions and other key moments in the legal sphere, putting them in context for the wider crypto industry. Before The Block, she lent her voice to the NPR affiliate WFUV and helmed Fordham University's student newspaper. Send tips or thoughts on all things policy and legal to [email protected] or follow her on Twitter for updates @AislinnKeely.