{"id":63475,"date":"2022-06-25T10:15:52","date_gmt":"2022-06-25T07:15:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=63475"},"modified":"2025-09-06T09:10:41","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T06:10:41","slug":"goldman-sachs-to-raise-2-billion-to-buy-celsius-network-assets-reports-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/goldman-sachs-to-raise-2-billion-to-buy-celsius-network-assets-reports-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Goldman Sachs to raise $2 billion to buy Celsius Network assets, reports say"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The financial conglomerate Goldman Sachs plans to raise $2 billion from investors to buy the assets of the crypto-lending platform Celsius Network in the event of its bankruptcy. The report, by <a href=\\\"https:\/\/www.coindesk.com\/business\/2022\/06\/24\/goldman-sachs-raising-funds-to-buy-celsius-assets-sources\/\\\">CoinDesk<\/a>, cites sources familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n<p>According to the publication, the deal would allow investors to acquire Celsius&#8217;s assets at a substantial discount if the platform is declared insolvent.<\/p>\n<p>One of CoinDesk&#8217;s sources said the bank is in talks with cryptocurrency funds, distressed-capital structures, and traditional financial firms. Assets acquired under the potential agreement would be managed by the participants in the fundraising.<\/p>\n<p>As of May 2022, Celsius managed assets of nearly $12 billion and issued client loans totaling $8.2 billion.<\/p>\n<p>On June 24, <a href=\\\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/amp\/articles\/celsius-network-taps-more-advisers-to-prepare-for-potential-bankruptcy-11656088078?mod=Searchresults_pos1&#038;page=1\\\">The Wall Street Journal<\/a> reported that Celsius hired the consulting firm Alvarez &#038; Marsal as an adviser on a potential bankruptcy filing. In the same month the paper <a href=\\\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/crypto-lender-celsius-hires-restructuring-lawyers-after-account-freeze-11655250575\\\">reported<\/a> that the company also engaged lawyers from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer &#038; Feld.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier, journalists <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/media-celsius-hires-citigroup-to-explore-financing-options\">told<\/a> that Celsius hired the financial conglomerate Citigroup to search for a possible solution to the problems arising after the freezing of client assets.<\/p>\n<p>CoinDesk&#8217;s sources noted that Akin Gump and Citigroup had advised the platform to declare insolvency.<\/p>\n<p>The news of Goldman Sachs&#8217;s interest in Celsius&#8217;s assets sparked a buzz in the community. Some viewed it as a positive signal for the industry, as the conglomerate&#8217;s move could help avert contagion spreading through the crypto market.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The main market-native risk to Bitcoin\/crypto has been contagion. <\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve now seen FTX strike deals with <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/ftx-in-talks-to-acquire-stake-in-blockfi-reports-say\">BlockFi<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/sam-bankman-fried-explains-alameda-researchs-role-in-supporting-the-industry-amid-downturn\">Voyager Digital<\/a>, and now Goldman buying Celsius\u2019s assets.<\/p>\n<p>Any concern around these firms has now been broadly alleviated and participants should feel more comfortable.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Will Clemente (@WClementeIII) <a href=\\\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WClementeIII\/status\/1540445202762158089?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\\\">June 24, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async=\\\"\\\" src=\\\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\\\" charset=\\\"utf-8\\\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\\\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\\\">\n<p>\u201cThe main market risk for Bitcoin and crypto is contagion. We\u2019ve seen FTX strike deals with BlockFi and Voyager Digital, and now Goldman buying Celsius\u2019s assets. Any concerns about these firms have now been broadly alleviated, and participants in the industry should feel more comfortable,\u201d wrote William Clemente, lead analyst at Blockware Solutions.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>But not everyone shares this optimism. BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes stressed that Goldman Sachs would never risk its own money unless it says so explicitly.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">2\/<\/p>\n<p>GS is doing what advisory banks do, assemble a bunch of investors, and help them structure the purchase of distressed assets for a phat fee.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Arthur Hayes (@CryptoHayes) <a href=\\\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CryptoHayes\/status\/1540480473654521858?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\\\">June 24, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async=\\\"\\\" src=\\\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\\\" charset=\\\"utf-8\\\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\\\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\\\">\n<p>\u201cGoldman Sachs does what all advisory banks do \u2014 gathers a group of investors and helps them structure the purchase of distressed assets for a huge fee,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Hayes acknowledged that if the deal goes through, the community \u201cmay rejoice,\u201d as Celsius clients would be able to withdraw assets and creditors would recover part of their money. In his view, this would restore trust in the industry and provide the momentum needed for market development.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\\\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\\\">\n<p>\u201cAny \u201crescues\u201d should be viewed as marketing stunts until real money arrives, and real depositors cannot withdraw part or all of their funds from insolvent centralized crypto lenders,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Goldman Sachs is not the first to consider buying Celsius assets. In mid-month, the platform Nexo said it was prepared to <AOPEN_4>buy the competitor&#8217;s loan portfolio<ACLOSE_4>. Chainge Finance <AOPEN_5>proposed to acquire<\/ACLOSE_5> \u201ccertain assets and liabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Earlier, Simon Dixon, co-founder of the online investment platform BnkToTheFuture, <AOPEN_6>proposed a rescue plan<\/ACLOSE_6> for Celsius Network\u2019s lending service, analogous to Bitfinex\u2019s rehabilitation after the 2016 hack.<\/p>\n<p>The initiative at the time included issuing security tokens, debt financing, and using equity. In his words, investors got \u201cvery high profits for the high risk they took.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Following the news of Goldman Sachs&#8217;s fundraising, Dixon urged Nexo to contact the BankToTheFuture team. He stressed that the two sides could offer a better solution together.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Let\u2019s discuss <a href=\\\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Nexo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\\\">@Nexo<\/a> \u2014 reach out to the <a href=\\\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BankToTheFuture?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\\\">@BankToTheFuture<\/a> team or DM me. We can do better than <a href=\\\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GoldmanSachs?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\\\">@GoldmanSachs<\/a> \u2014 let\u2019s put something together for the <a href=\\\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CelsiusNetwork?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\\\">@CelsiusNetwork<\/a> community that makes depositors good.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Simon Dixon (Beware Impersonators) (@SimonDixonTwitt) <a href=\\\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SimonDixonTwitt\/status\/1540442660053389312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\\\">June 24, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async=\\\"\\\" src=\\\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\\\" charset=\\\"utf-8\\\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Reuters reported that the securities commissions of five U.S. states have begun reviewing Celsius&#8217;s suspension of customer withdrawals on a priority basis <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/us-regulators-open-investigation-into-celsius-account-freezes\">began examining the Celsius customer withdrawal suspension<\/a>, according to Reuters.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\\\"\/\/telegram.me\/forklog\\\" target=\\\"\u201c_blank\u201d\\\" rel=\\\"\u201cnofollow\u201d noopener\\\">Telegram<\/a> \u2014 ForkLog bitcoin news is available in our Telegram \u2014 cryptocurrency news, prices and analysis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The financial conglomerate Goldman Sachs plans to raise $2 billion from investors to buy the assets of the crypto-lending platform Celsius Network in the event of its bankruptcy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"1","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1348,728],"class_list":["post-63475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-celsius-network","tag-goldman-sachs"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"23","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63475"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63477,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63475\/revisions\/63477"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}