Stout was engaged by the Debtors (Celsius Network LLC and its Affiliates) in February 2023 (United States Bankruptcy Court Southern District of New York; Case No. 22-10964 - MG) to perform valuation services in the Celsius Chapter 11 bankruptcy matter. Our Digital & Data Analytics team valued over 130 cryptocurrencies in one of the largest bankruptcies in the cryptocurrency industry.
This included valuing the Debtors’ cryptocurrency holdings, including liquid and illiquid tokens and staked and wrapped cryptocurrency holdings. Our Valuation Report was prepared in accordance with the Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Codification 820, Fair Value Measurement, guidelines.
We applied the Market Approach to value these cryptocurrencies by determining the principal market as of the Valuation Date, based on sufficient transactional volume and additional market characteristics, including effective liquidity, market reputation, and market depth.
We also made certain adjustments to account for the lack of marketability for illiquid cryptocurrencies, DeFi invested cryptocurrencies, staked cryptocurrencies with a stated withdrawal period, Celsius-wrapped tokens, and, generally, cryptocurrencies not readily tradeable, before arriving at a final estimate of fair value.
The valuation adjustments for the set of non-liquid cryptocurrencies were based on quantifying the lack of marketability (by implementing Discount for Lack of Marketability models, including the Finnerty model), and considering the characteristics and historical prices and volumes of liquid cryptocurrencies that were comparable to the illiquid cryptocurrencies that had to be valued.