BitMEX faces Celsius lawsuit ahead of exchange closure
The Celsius estate alleges BitMEX wrongfully liquidated and seized 6,360 BTC, worth nearly $490 million, during the March 2020 market crash.
The estate of collapsed cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius is suing BitMEX, the now-defunct Bitcoin futures exchange, for wrongdoing during the March 2020 market crash, according to court documents filed on September 12. Celsius alleges that BitMEX wrongfully liquidated and seized 6,360 BTC, worth nearly $490 million, from Celsius and a related investment fund.
The lawsuit, filed in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, accuses BitMEX of fraud, market manipulation, and wrongful liquidations. The complaint lists five BitMEX-linked companies as defendants, including HDR Global Trading and ABS Global Trading. BitMEX is scheduled to cease exchange services on September 23.
The Celsius estate claims that BitMEX controlled the prices that triggered liquidations, executed them, and received insurance proceeds from some liquidated positions. The estate also alleges that BitMEX’s liquidation engine intensified the sell-off by placing orders at prices far below the next-best ask. It further alleges that BitMEX’s service disruption on March 13, 2020, and subsequent two distributed denial-of-service attacks allowed it to suppress Bitcoin’s price.
Celsius seeks recovery of the seized Bitcoin and additional damages like actual losses, statutory and punitive damages, profits BitMEX allegedly made, and legal fees. The lawsuit was filed 11 days before BitMEX’s scheduled shutdown.
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