One of the crypto world's longest-running legal battles has finally come to an end. Celsius Network, which went bankrupt following the 2022 crash, has won its lawsuit against stablecoin giant Tether after three years. Following the lawsuit, which was filed in the US, Tether agreed to pay Celsius $299.5 million.
Celsius Wins Tether Case
Celsius Network has secured a $299.5 million settlement after three years in its lawsuit against Tether. This amount represents only 7% of the $4.3 billion the company initially sought. The decision, which resonated throughout the crypto market, is considered one of the largest cases concluded during Celsius's bankruptcy process.
The case was filed in August 2024 in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York by the Blockchain Recovery Investment Consortium (BRIC), Celsius's representative. BRIC, a joint venture between VanEck and GXD Labs, was tasked with recovering Celsius's assets. Celsius claimed that Tether liquidated 39,542 Bitcoin during the 2022 market crash before the 10-hour waiting period in the contract expired.
Tether denied these allegations and maintained that the transactions were legal. However, Judge Martin Glenn, presiding over the case, found Celsius's claims largely valid and allowed the proceedings to proceed. After approximately a year of review, the parties agreed to a $299.5 million settlement.
GXD Labs managing partner David Proman said, “We are pleased to have concluded Celsius’s lawsuit against Tether. The faster and fairer completion of the process than anticipated is in the best interest of creditors.”
Tether founder Paolo Ardoino also shared a post on the X platform: “We are pleased to have reached a final resolution to all matters related to the Celsius bankruptcy process.” Thus, the lawsuit was officially closed for Tether.
What happened?
Celsius Network halted user withdrawals following a liquidity crisis in the summer of 2022 and filed for bankruptcy in July 2022. A $1.2 billion deficit was identified on the company's balance sheet, and total investor losses were estimated to exceed $4.7 billion. The company's founder, Alex Mashinsky, pleaded guilty to commodity fraud and CEL token price manipulation in May 2025 and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
BRIC, which managed Celsius's restructuring process, prepared a payment plan for creditors by the end of 2023 by recovering some of the company's assets. The $299.5 million payment from Tether will be used as part of this plan and distributed as restitution to the aggrieved investors.
The decision holds symbolic significance in the crypto market. Tether's acceptance of this compromise is seen as a significant turning point in the long-running "transparency of stablecoins" debate.
At the time of writing, the CEL token price is trading at $0.05006317, representing a 10% increase in the last 24 hours.
