Goldman Sachs is allegedly shopping around for investors to form a web3 fund to purchase Celsius assets.
The multinational investment bank is raising $2 billion from a wide range of funds to take advantage of a potential discount on Celsius crypto assets.
Should Celsius be forced to file for bankruptcy, it may be required to sell off its assets quickly to pay back any creditors. The exchange has allegedly already been advised to file for bankruptcy by Citigroup and Akin Group.
The news was initially reported by Coin Desk, which cites people familiar with the matter as the source of information.
The struggling exchange reportedly had over $11 billion in assets as of May 2022, meaning if Goldman Sachs could purchase all of Celsius’ assets, it would be paying just 20 cents on the dollar. Whether the group is looking to take Celsius on as a going concern or strip and sell its assets is unknown at this time.
Celsius also received an unsolicited offer from rival exchange Nexo on June 12, which was not accepted. However, Coin Desk reported that Citigroup had been brought in to assess the deal. Nexo has over 4 million users compared to Celisus’ 1.7 million who claimed
“Nexo is in а solid liquidity and equity position to readily acquire any remaining qualifying assets of Celsius, mainly their collateralized loan portfolio.”
The proposal to purchase Celsius’ “collateralized loan portfolio” is likely to have a similar focus to any potential Goldman Sachs offer. Investors currently without access to their funds held in custody with Celsius may not be enthused by Goldman Sach’s approach.
Upon filing for bankruptcy, a schedule would be created determining the order in which creditors are repaid. Investors will be hoping they will be paid out first, but there are no guarantees.
Celsius hired “restructuring attorneys from law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP to advise on possible solutions for its mounting financial problems.” The move may signal the end of Celsius, which has been silent on the issue since June 20.
