On December 21, Celsius provided the court with a presentation on the progress of the restructuring plan that included estimates of the coin value owned by the company and the situation with the auction sales of the former company's operating assets.

In the presentation to the court, the coins owned by Celsius as of November 25, 2022 valued at approximately $2.6 billion. Those included over $1 billion in ETH and stETH, and approximately $630 million in BTC and WBTC. The "equity hole", including coin and non-coin assets, is approximately $1.2 billion. As a reminder, when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July, Celsius reported under $4.3 billion in assets and over $5.5 billion in liabilities resulting in a deficit of $1.2 billion. So, the current estimate does not significantly differ from that time.

The assets marked for auction sale included the retail platform, the mining business and the custodial platform.

For the retail platform and mining business, the company has been negotiating with 125  potential buyers, 30 of which proceeded to NDA signing stage. The auction is planned in January 2023. Its worth mentioning that, according to the document, the company's bankruptcy managers have built up the mining business and made that segment EBITDA positive.

For the custodial platform GK8 auctioned on December 2, the winner, Galaxy Digital, will pay $44 million for it. Celsius acquired this Israeli startup for $115 million in 2021.  

💡 The GK8 platform provides users with a patented technology that makes it possible to securely store cryptocurrencies in a so-called "air-gapped" wallet (a device without any connection to the internet) and at the same time transact with them.

The Galaxy Digital team plans to integrate GK8 into its GalaxyOne service, which will be able to perform the functions of trading, lending, and asset management, which will create a full-service financial platform.

“The acquisition of GK8 is a crucial cornerstone in our effort to create a truly full-service financial platform for digital assets, ensuring our clients will have the option to store their digital assets at or separate from Galaxy without compromising versatility and functionality.”- said founder and CEO of Galaxy, Mike Novogratz, Founder and CEO of Galaxy.

A message on the official website also states that the GK8 team will join Galaxy Digital. About 40 people, including the founders Lior Lamesh and Shahar Shamai, will continue their work.

“We are excited by the prospect of joining one of the leading providers of financial and digital asset services to institutions who truly understand the impact of GK8’s custody technology on the future of blockchain. With the backing of Galaxy, we aim to introduce new and exciting offerings to the industry that showcase a combination of Galaxy’s best-in-class services and GK8’s cryptography, security, and unparalleled R&D skills.”- said CEO of GK8, Lior Lamesh.

The sale of Celsius liquid assets is required to fund the operations of the troubled company. As per the presentation, the current liquidity provides a runway only through May-June. Since some of the assets such as ETH are locked in staking contracts and cannot be accessed immediately, the operation of the company is essential to maintain the restructuring process.

We will continue our observations and tell you about any new details of the Celsius restructuring process.

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