Celsius Sues BitMEX for $495 Million in Seized Bitcoin
Celsius Network's bankruptcy estate has filed a lawsuit against BitMEX in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, seeking to recover $495 million worth of Bitcoin seized during the March 2020 Covid crash.
The complaint alleges that BitMEX ran a fraudulent scheme, controlling both the liquidation engine and the insurance fund that profited from it. The lawsuit names five BitMEX-linked entities as defendants: HDR Global Trading, ABS Global Trading, Shine Effort, 100x Holdings, and HDR Global Services.
The complaint seeks to recover 6,360 Bitcoin tied to forced liquidations during the March 2020 crash, which Celsius claims was a deliberate outcome rather than an ordinary risk of trading on margin. The alleged scheme involved BitMEX controlling both sides of the equation: the system that decided when customer positions got liquidated and the insurance fund that grew fatter every time a liquidation occurred.