The US Bankruptcy Judge presiding over the Celsius bankruptcy case, Judge Martin Glenn, issued a “Memorandum Opinion and Order” regarding the ownership of the assets in the lender’s yield-bearing Earn accounts. The US Bankruptcy Judge concluded that the assets belong to Celsius and not to the holders.
Notably, the crypto platform Celsius owned 600,000 accounts in its Earn at the time of Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. It held almost $4.2 billion in assets, among which there was a significant amount of stablecoins worth $20 million.
As stated by Judge Glenn, “the issue of ownership of the assets in the Earn Accounts is a contract law issue.” This term of use means that the platform held “all rights and title to such Eligible Digital Assets, including ownership rights”.
Interestingly, the term of use has been described as “unambiguous” by the judge. Judge Glenn pointed out that during the claim resolution process, there would be plans for considering the woes of the unsecured creditors.
To be specific, Judge Glenn stated that: