Are Celsius Customers Ever Seeing Their Funds Again?

September 2, 2022       /       Unchained Daily       /       Laura Shin

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Daily Bits✍️✍️✍️

• OpenSea announced it will only support NFTs on the proof-of-stake Ethereum blockchain after the Merge.
• Crypto.com (disclosure: sponsor of Unchained) pulled out of a $495 million deal with UEFA Champions League.
• The Macalinao brothers, who used several identities to mislead volumes in a crypto exchange, decided to leave their venture capital firm.
• Kyber Network, a DeFi platform, suffered a $265,000 exploit.
• US authorities requested records on Binance and its CEO, according to Reuters.
• The CEO of crypto miner PrimeBlock stepped down after a canceled SPAC deal.
• After losing $3.4 million in the Rari exploit, DeFi protocol Babylon Finance will shut down.
• DeFi application 1inch (disclosure: sponsor of Unchained) will airdrop 300,000 OP tokens for its users on the Optimism layer 2 network.
• FTX US Derivatives added former CFTC commissioner Jill Sommers as a board member.
• Compass Mining, a BTC mining company, decided to shut down two facilities in Georgia due to the increase in electricity costs.
• The SEC and the CFTC are requesting comments on a proposal to integrate crypto into the reporting regime for hedge funds.

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Today in Crypto Adoption…

• Crypto bank Sygnum will open a metaverse hub in Decentraland.

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What Do You Meme?

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What’s Poppin’?

by Juan Aranovich

Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius is seeking to return some of its customer funds.

In a filing submitted yesterday in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, Celsius asked for permission to return customer assets held in the “Custody Program and Withhold Accounts.”

The company claims that these accounts are not its property and therefore people should be able to withdraw their funds. Celsius also made clear the distinction between these accounts, which did not generate yield, and the “Earn” and “Borrow” ones.

According to the filing, these accounts have $210 million in deposits from more than 58,000 users.

However, because only $44 million belong to “pure custody accounts”, not the entire amount will be returned to their owners. Thomas Braziel, a bankruptcy expert who was recently interviewed for the premium offering, was a little skeptical about the filing. “I mean – returning 40-50m of 215m of assets is not returning custody funds in my mind,” he said on Twitter.

After the hearings, the CEL token rocketed, as it rose over 20% in the day, hitting a high of $1.45.

“While today’s motion, which will be considered at a later hearing, would apply only to a certain group of customers, we are preparing to address matters related to all customers as we move ahead. We continue to pursue all available avenues as quickly as possible,” said Celsius on its official Twitter account.

Celsius will continue to go through its bankruptcy process, and its next public hearing is scheduled for September 14.

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Recommended Reads

1. The DeFi Investor on Cosmos’ Interchain Security
2. Alec Chen on the future of on-chain gaming
3. Adriano Feria on Bitcoin’s security

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On The Pod…

Miles Jennings, general counsel at a16z crypto, talks about its new “can’t be evil” NFT licenses and how they help to solve many problems within the NFT industry. Show highlights:

• what “can’t be evil” NFT licenses are and what problems they solve
• what can these licenses achieve for content creators
• which are the five rights that the licenses address
• whether the NFT licenses help resolve hate speech issues for creators
• why a16z described its licenses as “can’t be evil”
• how these licenses will be enforced
• how anyone buying NFTs should now be able to understand what they are buying
• why previous attempts to create standardized NFT license didn’t succeed
• why Miles thinks these new NFT licenses are going to succeed

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Book Update

You can purchase it here: http://bit.ly/cryptopians