Bankrupt Celsius sues BitMEX over Covid crash liquidations, seeking $495M

Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network's estate has sued BitMEX over forced liquidations during the March 2020 Covid crash, seeking the return of 6,360 BTC now worth roughly $495 million.

The complaint was filed Sept. 12 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York by Blockchain Recovery Investment Consortium, the litigation administrator appointed in the Celsius bankruptcy. Defendants include HDR Global Trading, ABS Global Trading, Shine Effort, 100x Holdings and HDR Global Services — entities spanning Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, England, Hong Kong, the Seychelles and the U.S.

Celsius says it lost 1,325.84 BTC in a single liquidation on March 12, 2020, and is pursuing claims assigned to it by investment fund JST, which lost 5,034.33 BTC the following day. Both held positions that profited only if bitcoin held or rose. The complaint alleges BitMEX controlled both the system deciding when customers were liquidated and the insurance fund that grew from those liquidations.

"BitMEX intentionally designed its platform and liquidation procedures to cause liquidations of collateral and defraud its own customers," the filing says.