Celsius Creditors Seek Help from Bankruptcy Judge to Uncover Potential Market Manipulation

Creditors of Celsius Network have requested the help of a bankruptcy judge to investigate potential market manipulation of Celsius’ CEL token. The creditors, represented by a committee, are seeking information from cryptocurrency exchange FTX regarding users associated with 10 wallets that were allegedly involved in suspicious trades of the CEL coin between April and August 2022. The creditors suspect that the trades may have artificially inflated the price of the CEL token and want to determine if they were legitimate or constituted market manipulation, such as wash trading.

To identify the suspicious transactions, the committee employed the services of blockchain consultant Elementus. According to Elementus, 947 transactions involving a near one-to-one relationship of CEL token deposits and withdrawals occurred over three-day periods between 10 private wallets and 10 FTX-operated wallets. The committee believes that the information from FTX will be crucial in determining whether the trades were intended to inflate the price of CEL token artificially.

In addition to uncovering potential market manipulation, the committee is also requesting information regarding any short positions taken on CEL. The committee believes that short positions could have had a negative impact on the price of the CEL token, and that this information could also be critical in resolving a dispute related to Celsius’ bankruptcy.

The creditors are seeking permission from the bankruptcy judge to issue subpoenas to FTX to obtain the requested information. The request for subpoenas was made in court papers filed on April 26. The information obtained from FTX could be important in resolving disputes related to Celsius’ bankruptcy.

Meanwhile, FTX is pending approval from the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware to sell LedgerX, its futures and options exchange and clearinghouse, to an affiliate of Miami International Holdings for approximately $50 million. The sale is expected to provide FTX with the funds needed to pay back its creditors. A hearing to approve the sale is scheduled for May 4.

In conclusion, the Celsius creditors’ request for subpoenas to FTX reflects their efforts to investigate potential market manipulation of the CEL token. The information obtained from FTX could be crucial in determining whether the trades involving CEL were legitimate or constituted market manipulation, and could be important in resolving disputes related to Celsius’ bankruptcy. Meanwhile, FTX’s pending sale of LedgerX is expected to provide the exchange with the funds needed to pay back its creditors.