• US-based clients of the defunct crypto lending firm, BlockFi, have reported being able to access their accounts following a directive from the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey.
• BlockFi said they initiated withdrawals for eligible users’ wallets in the US based on a Wallet Order from the court.
• International users are still waiting as legal proceedings continue but may change soon.
BlockFi Clients Free to Withdraw Funds After Court Order
The US Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey has issued a directive allowing numerous US-based clients of the defunct crypto lending firm, BlockFi, to access their accounts. On August 17th, BlockFi announced that they had initiated withdrawals for eligible users’ wallets in accordance with this order.
Wallet Order Details
The Wallet Order specifies certain criteria that must be met by clients in order to be eligible for withdrawal. These include not having withdrawn or transferred over $7,575 worth of digital assets from their BlockFi Interest Account (BIA) or BlockFi Private Client (BPC) since November 2nd 2022 and not having held trade-only assets in their wallets during a Platform Pause at 8:15 PM ET on November 10th 2022.
BlockFi’s Priority – Facilitating Distributions
BlockFi has made facilitating distributions its priority and advised clients to check their emails or the BlockFi app to determine eligibility. To ensure compliance with these criteria, all requests for withdrawal will be subject to review by an independent third party before processing is completed.
Background
In November 2022, BlockFi filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection due to having more than 100,000 creditors with liabilities and assets ranging from $1 billion to $10 billion. This was preceded by similar filings by FTX, Celsius Network, and Voyager Digital earlier that year.
Conclusion
The news that US-based clients can now withdraw funds marks a positive development in what has been a difficult time for all involved in the case of Blockfi’s bankruptcy filing nine months ago. Despite ongoing legal proceedings affecting international users’ ability to access funds, it appears that progress is being made towards achieving a satisfactory resolution between creditors and debtors alike.
