Crypto lender BlockFi files for bankruptcy, cites FTX exposure [View all]
Last edited Mon Nov 28, 2022, 06:27 PM - Edit history (3)
Source: Reuters
Nov 28 (Reuters) - Cryptocurrency lender BlockFi has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, it said on Monday, the latest crypto casualty after the firm was hurt by exposure to the spectacular collapse of the FTX exchange earlier this month. The filing in a New Jersey court comes as crypto prices have plummeted. The price of bitcoin , the most popular digital currency by far, is down more than 70% from a 2021 peak.
“BlockFi’s Chapter 11 restructuring underscores significant asset contagion risks associated with the crypto ecosystem," said Monsur Hussain, senior director at Fitch Ratings. New Jersey-based BlockFi, founded by fintech executive-turned-crypto entrepreneur Zac Prince, said in a bankruptcy filing that its substantial exposure to FTX created a liquidity crisis. FTX, founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, filed for protection in the United States earlier in November after traders pulled $6 billion from the platform in three days and rival exchange Binance abandoned a rescue deal.
"Although the debtors’ exposure to FTX is a major cause of this bankruptcy filing, the debtors do not face the myriad issues apparently facing FTX," said the first day bankruptcty filing by Mark Renzi, managing director at Berkeley Research Group, the proposed financial advisor for BlockFi. "Quite the opposite." BlockFi said the liquidity crisis was due to its exposure to FTX via loans to Alameda, a crypto trading firm affiliated with FTX, as well as cryptocurrencies held on FTX's platform that became trapped there. BlockFi listed its assets and liabilities as being between $1 billion and $10 billion.
Renzi said that BlockFi had sold a portion of its crypto assets earlier in November to fund its bankruptcy. Those sales raised $238.6 million in cash, and BlockFi now has $256.5 million in cash on hand. In a court filing on Monday, BlockFi listed FTX as its second-largest creditor, with $275 million owed on a loan extended earlier this year. It said it owes money to more than 100,000 creditors. The company also said in a separate filing it plans to lay off two-thirds of its 292 employees.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/technology/crypto-lender-blockfi-files-bankruptcy-protection-2022-11-28/
Article updated.
Previous headlines/articles -
Nov 28 (Reuters) - Cryptocurrency lender BlockFi has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, it said on Monday, the latest crypto casualty following the spectacular collapse of the FTX exchange earlier this month. The filing in a New Jersey court comes as crypto prices plummet. The price of bitcoin , the largest digital currency by far, is down more than 70% from a 2021 peak.
"BlockFi's Chapter 11 restructuring underscores significant asset contagion risks associated with the crypto ecosystem," said Monsur Hussain, senior director at Fitch Ratings. New Jersey-based BlockFi, founded by Zac Prince, said in a bankruptcy filing that its substantial exposure to FTX created a liquidity crisis. FTX filed for protection in the United States earlier in November after traders pulled $6 billion from the platform in three days and rival exchange Binance abandoned a rescue deal.
In a court filing on Monday, BlockFi listed FTX as its second-largest creditor, with $275 million owed on a loan extended earlier this year. It said it owes money to more than 100,000 creditors. The company also said in a separate filing it plans to lay off two-thirds of its 292 employees. Under a deal signed with FTX in July BlockFi was to receive a $400 million revolving credit facility while FTX got an option to buy it for up to $240 million.
BlockFi's bankruptcy filing also comes after two of BlockFi's largest competitors, Celsius Network and Voyager Digital , filed for bankruptcy in July citing extreme market conditions that had resulted in losses at both companies. Crypto lenders, the de facto banks of the crypto world, boomed during the pandemic, attracting retail customers with double-digit rates in return for their cryptocurrency deposits. On the flip side, institutional investors such as hedge funds looking to make leveraged bets paid higher rates to borrow the funds from the lenders, who profited from the difference.
Nov 28 (Reuters) - Major cryptocurrency lender BlockFi has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection along with eight affiliates, it said on Monday, the latest crypto casualty to follow the spectacular collapse of the FTX exchange earlier this month. The filing in a New Jersey court comes as crypto prices plummet, with bitcoin down more than 70% from a 2021 peak.
New Jersey-based BlockFi had links with FTX, which filed for protection in the United States earlier in November after traders pulled $6 billion from the platform in three days and rival exchange Binance abandoned a rescue deal.
In a court filing on Monday, BlockFi listed FTX as its second-largest creditor, with $275 million owed on a loan extended earlier this year. It said it owes money to more than 100,000 creditors. Under a deal signed with FTX in July BlockFi was to receive a $400 million revolving credit facility while FTX got an option to buy it for up to $240 million.
BlockFi's bankruptcy filing also comes after two of BlockFi's largest competitors, Celsius Network and Voyager Digital, filed for bankruptcy in July citing extreme market conditions that had resulted in losses at both companies.
Original article -
In a court filing, New Jersey-based BlockFi said it owes money to more than 100,000 creditors. It listed crypto exchange FTX as its second-largest creditor, with $275 million owed on a loan extended earlier this year.
The company's largest creditor is Ankura Trust, a company that represents creditors in stressed situations, and is owed $729 million.
BlockFi had earlier paused withdrawals from its platform and acknowledged it had "significant exposure" to FTX and its associated entities. The move comes weeks after FTX filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection and its founder Sam Bankman-Fried resigned as chief executive.
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