Binance, Galaxy Digital among secret bidders for Celsius assets

At least five firms placed bids on Celsius Network’s crypto assets, including Binance, Bank To The Future and Galaxy Digital, according to leaked information shared by crypto blogger Tiffany Fong.

Fong, a follower of Celsius developments who shot to fame after several exclusive interviews with Sam Bankman-Fried following FTX’s collapse, has published documents she says were obtained on Dec. 20 “detailing the bids on Celsius Network’s crypto assets.”

In a Substack post, Fong explained that she initially refrained from leaking the bids to avoid disrupting the bidding process but was prompted to do so after recent commentary from a lawyer representing Celsius.

“I refrained from sharing the bids publicly to avoid disrupting the bidding procedures or negatively impacting customer recoveries; however, in yesterday’s Celsius Network court hearing (1/24/23), Kirkland & Ellis attorney Ross M. Kwasteniet proclaimed the bids ‘have not been compelling,” Fong explained.

Among the bidders revealed by Fong include crypto exchange Binance, online investment platform Bank To The Future, digital asset investment manager Galaxy Digital, crypto trading company Cumberland DRW and digital asset investment firm NovaWulf.

According to Fong, the proposals from these crypto firms were submitted in November, but they were “for the most part, abandoned.”

Fong stated that Binance proposed a bid of $15 million for the assets, with $12 million earmarked for the Celsius estate and $3 million to be distributed to “migrated users on a pro-rata basis.”

In the purported Summary Term Sheet from Binance, the crypto exchange said that it intends to “acquire and transfer all liquid and certain illiquid crypto” at the fair market value to Binance’s platform.

Galaxy Digital proposed to acquire all illiquid and staked Ether (ETH) assets as it sought to be the “designed stalking horse bidder” — a name given to the initial bidder for the sale of distressed assets — for the amount of approximately $67 million.

Meanwhile, Bank To The Future’s bid stated in its transaction structure that all liquid crypto assets and collateral werto be returned to creditors pro rata, under the management of Bank To The Future.

In a Jan. 26 tweet, Bank To The Future CEO Simon Dixon has since confirmed that the contents of the leaked bids relating to his firm were accurate.

I can confirm it is a true reflection of the term sheet @BankToTheFuture sent in to give everybody all coins left with no charge & 100% of illiquid assets. https://t.co/MrYGvoB9eB
— Simon Dixon (@SimonDixonTwitt) January 26, 2023

Fong noted in the blog post that she is “only aware of these five bids” on Celsius’ crypto assets.

She added that Novawulf’s bid was “particularly interesting,” due to having a vague resemblance to “Celsius Network’s newly-proposed restructuring plans.”

In comments to Cointelegraph, Fong said that she has had conversations with “multiple Celsius Network employees” and to her surprise, most employees “were not even made privy to the bids.”

She added that “not even those in upper-level management” were aware of this information.

Fong said that creditors and “even most employees” have been left in the dark about the bids on crypto assets that investors deposited onto the platform.

Fong is not sure how “things will unfold,” but thinks that creditors deserve “more transparency” and have a right to see the bids on assets that “we deposited onto the platform.”

Binance declined to comment, saying that “as a matter of policy, we do not comment on speculations, rumors or deals in progress.”

Cointelegraph has reached out for comments from Galaxy Digital, Bank To The Future, NovaWulf and Cumberland DRW.

Update (Jan. 27, 6:39AM UTC): Added statement from Binance spokesperson.