Key Ideas:
- At least hundreds of clients looking to sell their bitcoin claims after losing money when FTX, Celsius Network, and Voyager Digital collapsed
- Customers and other creditors who now have claims totaling approximately $1 billion on FTX and roughly $100 million on Celsius have expressed interest in selling them through an online marketplace the company runs.
- Investors in distressed loans and hedge funds are placing bets on these assets.
At least hundreds of consumers who lost money as a result of the failure of FTX, Celsius Network, and Voyager Digital are reportedly looking to sell their bitcoin claims at a significant loss in order to avoid having to wait a few days, months, or even years.
Customers and other creditors who now have approximately $1 billion in claims on FTX and around $100 million in claims on Celsius have shown interest in selling them through an online marketplace run by distressed asset investment firm Cherokee Acquisition, the company said.
Nearly 500 users of FTX, Celsius, and Voyager offered around $126 million worth of claims for sale on various platforms, according to Xclaim Inc., a platform that specializes in offering encrypted trade claims. Customers of FTX have sold their claims. The overall sum was $91.7 million.
Xclaim's founder and CEO, Matt Sedigh, claimed that the business gets calls from creditors every day. Sedigh alleges that as the bulk of FTX clients live abroad, roughly two-thirds of the FTX claims submitted come from creditors based in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
In addition, these assets are being bet on by hedge funds and investors in distressed debt. According to court records, a number of fund managers have bought claims from Celsius or Voyager creditors, including Contrarian Capital Management LLC, Invictus Global Management, and digital asset investment company NovaWulf Digital Management.
It is said that experienced asset managers who have the resources and time to survive bankruptcy purchase tokens they believe have a significant upside. In addition, they evaluate the tokens' quality in case they are unable to make their dollar repayments in the event of bankruptcy.
