- Fahrenheit beats Novawulf to the chase and acquires Celsius.
- The consortium must make a $10 million deposit within three days to seal the agreement.
- The acquisition includes the crypto lender’s assets, once valued at $2 billion.
Fahrenheit, a group of buyers involving VC firm, Arrington Capital, has won the bid for the bankrupt crypto lender Celsius. The firm comprised Steven Kokinos, US Bitcoin Corp, Proof Group Capital Management, Ravi Kaza, and Arrington Capital, outbid Novawulf, Celsius’s favored firm.
On May 25, court filings revealed that Fahrenheit was to acquire Celsius’s staked DeFi cryptocurrencies, institutional loan portfolio, $500 or $450 million in Liquid crypto, mining unit, and PE and VC investments. The court document listed the successful and backup bidders for Celsius Network, as the deal requires Fahrenheit to pay $10 million in three days before the acquisition is complete.
According to the document, only two qualified bidders—excluding the ‘Stalking Horse Bidder,’ Novawulf—namely Fahrenheit, the winner, and Bitcoin Recovery Investment Consortium (BRIC), the backup bidder. The court filing also maps out the roles of each company related to Fahrenheit.
In the acquisition of the Celsius Network, the constructed filing in the United States Bankruptcy Court of the District of New York stated that each consortium member would be included and expected to actively participate in managing the firm and new board.
After being named the winner of the Celsius Network bid, Fahrenheit is to implement a Plan Sponsor Agreement within five business days after the end of the auction. The Plan Sponsor Agreement would include June 30, 2023, as a milestone for the disclosure statement.
Although the crypto lending firm and its creditors have accepted the bid, regulatory approval is vital for the completion of the acquisition. The ‘Exhibit B’ of the court document analyzes the role of the backup-bidder, the Blockchain Recovery Investment Consortium (BRIC), which includes GXD Labs and Van Eck Absolute Return Advisers Corporation.
According to Exhibit B, the Backup Sponsor Plan would provide that Fahrenheit would retain the authority to eliminate the pre-Effective Date consultation services to be offered by BRIC to all those necessary upon a 30 days notice, and such elimination would terminate BRIC’s role as a backup bidder for the firm.
Gemini and Coinbase Bid At Celsius’s Auction
Celsius was one of the many crypto firms to have been deeply impacted by the bear market of 2022; the crypto lender filed for bankruptcy in July 2022.
Since the auction date was scheduled for April 25, 2023, several companies and consortiums have been interested in acquiring Celsius. Two of which were the crypto exchange company Coinbase and Gemini.
In a deleted tweet, Fahrenheit mentioned that Coinbase was one of its prominent supporters in acquiring Celsius.
According to Michael Arrington’s tweet, Fahrenheit would be creating a new company that would be run to develop the acquired assets from Celsius.
Conclusion
Despite not being favored as the initial bidder to acquire Celsius, Fahrenheit, a consortium of companies and buyers, has successfully developed the bid and intends to build a long-standing company with the assets acquired from the auction.
