Celsius estate sues BitMEX over 6,360 BTC liquidations

The Celsius bankruptcy estate has filed a lawsuit against five BitMEXlinked companies, claiming the exchange wrongfully liquidated and seized 6,360.16 BTC during the March 2020 market crash. The filing was submitted on Sept. 12 in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York by Celsius entities represented by Blockchain Recovery Investment Consortium. According to the complaint, BitMEX allegedly liquidated 1,325.84 BTC in Celsius collateral on March 12, 2020, and 5,034.33 BTC tied to investment fund JST the next day. The estate says JST later assigned its claims to Celsius, and it is seeking damages linked to Bitcoin worth nearly $490 million at the time of writing. The lawsuit also accuses BitMEX of market manipulation, arguing that the exchange controlled pricing used for liquidations and that its liquidation engine helped intensify the selloff. BitMEX is scheduled to stop exchange services on Sept. 23, 11 days after the complaint was filed.