In an effort to repay creditors, beleaguered crypto lender Celsius has executed substantial ETH transfers to centralized exchanges, totaling over $125 million in the past week. The transactions, aiming to cover incurred costs during the restructuring process, saw $95.5 million moved to Coinbase and $29.7 million to FalconX between January 8 and January 12.
Despite these transfers, Celsius still holds an impressive 550,000 ETH on its books, valued at a staggering $1.36 billion as of the latest available data. On January 5, Celsius made a significant move by unstaking 206,300 ETH, valued at $407 million, with plans to utilize the newly-liberated Ether for restructuring expenses and to facilitate creditor repayments.
Celsius, committed to distributing Bitcoin (BTC) and ETH to creditors in its recovery plan, has not specified a definitive date for commencing fund disbursements. Creditors have patiently awaited their funds for over 18 months since Celsius declared bankruptcy in July 2022.
In a parallel development, FTX, a bankrupt crypto exchange, and its defunct trading arm, Alameda Research, undertook their own crypto transfers to exchanges on January 14. The transactions, totaling $28 million, included $18.7 million in Wrapped Bitcoin, $8 million in Ether, and $1 million in Pendle (PENDLE) sent to Coinbase and Binance.
Following their bankruptcy declaration in November, FTX has actively sought funds for creditor repayment, successfully reclaiming approximately $7 billion in assets, including a substantial $3.4 billion in cryptocurrency. Market sentiment toward FTX creditor claims has been positive, with some reaching $0.50 on the dollar in October, indicating a reasonable chance of full repayment. While a specific reimbursement date is yet to be announced, the current plan estimates repayments to commence sometime this year.