Celsius Sues BitMEX for Nearly Half a Billion in Bitcoin

Celsius has filed a lawsuit against five BitMEX-linked companies, alleging fraud and market manipulation during the March 2020 market crash. The complaint, filed on September 12 in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, alleges that BitMEX wrongfully liquidated and seized nearly $490 million worth of Bitcoin from Celsius. According to the lawsuit, BitMEX controlled the prices used to trigger liquidations and intensified the sell-off by stopping liquidation orders when its platform became unavailable.

The estate cites the timing of BitMEX's March 13, 2020, service disruption as evidence for its claim that the exchange's liquidation engine suppressed Bitcoin's price. It also alleges that Bitcoin traded at a lower price on BitMEX than on competing exchanges during the liquidation cycle. The lawsuit seeks actual damages of at least 6,360.16 BTC or its current value, along with the return of the Bitcoin in kind or its equivalent market value.

The complaint also requests statutory damages, punitive and any applicable treble damages, profits BitMEX allegedly earned from the liquidations, and legal fees and costs. The filing does not quantify the additional claims, saying the amounts should be determined at trial.