Celsius creditors demand transparency on ‘suspicious’ FTX transactions

Celsius creditors say info from FTX is crucial in determining if some CEL trades were meant to inflate its price artificially.

Celsius creditors claim that some FTX users have engaged in suspicious trades that may have manipulated the price of the Celsius (CEL) token in 2022. The creditors are seeking the help of a bankruptcy judge to unmask the users in question.

Represented by a committee, creditors of Celsius Network have requested permission from a bankruptcy judge to issue subpoenas to FTX. They are seeking information on users associated with 10 cryptocurrency wallets that were allegedly involved in suspicious trades of Celsius’ CEL coin between April and August.

The creditors believe that the information from FTX will help them determine whether the trades were legitimate or constituted market manipulation, such as wash trading. The request for subpoenas was made in court papers filed on April 26.

According to the committee, it employed the help of blockchain consultant Elementus to identify transactions that were suspicious. The filing wrote:

“Elementus identified 947 transactions involving a near one-to-one relationship of CEL Token deposits and withdrawals over three-day periods between ten private wallets and ten FTX-operated wallets.”

The committee representing Celsius Network's creditors has stated that the information they are seeking from FTX is crucial in determining whether the trades involving CEL were intended to inflate its price artificially.

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In addition, the committee is requesting information regarding any short positions taken on CEL. This could have also had a negative impact on its price, according to the court filing. The creditors believe that it’s important to determine whether the trades were legitimate, as it could be critical to resolving a dispute related to Celsius' bankruptcy.

Meanwhile, collapsed crypto exchange FTX has entered into a purchase agreement with an affiliate of Miami International Holdings to sell LedgerX, its futures and options exchange and clearinghouse, for approximately $50 million. The deal is pending approval from the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, with a hearing scheduled for May 4.

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