A US bankruptcy judge has ruled that assets placed in the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange Celsius’ high-interest “Earn Accounts” belong to the company, not the account holders. Judge Martin Glenn’s ruling was based on an “unambiguous provision” in the company’s terms of use, which stated that “all right and title to such Eligible Digital Assets, including ownership rights” were held by Celsius.
The decision means that the exchange has no immediate obligation to repay around 600,000 investors amid its ongoing bankruptcy proceedings and the more than $4.2bn frozen in Celsius accounts last June belongs to the company, not the people who put it there.
However, investors could potentially receive some compensation from Celsius, but would be last in line to do so. They could also sue the company, claiming that the terms they signed violated securities laws.
