Ripple Labs interested in bankrupt crypto lender Celsius' assets

business-standard.com:

San Francisco-based blockchain payments company Ripple Labs Inc, which is embroiled in a high-profile battle with the U.S. securities regulator, is interested in potentially purchasing assets of bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network, according to a company spokesperson.

"We are interested in learning about Celsius and its assets, and whether any could be relevant to our business,†the spokesperson said, declining to say if Ripple was interested in acquiring Celsius outright.

Ripple has continued to grow through the crypto market turmoil and "is actively looking for M&A opportunities to strategically scale the company," the spokesperson said.

New Jersey-based Celsius froze withdrawals in June citing "extreme" market conditions and filed for bankruptcy in New York last month, listing a $1.19 billion deficit on its balance sheet.

Last week, lawyers for Ripple submitted filings to the bankruptcy court seeking to be represented in the proceedings.

The court approved the filing earlier this week. Ripple is not among Celsius' major creditors, Celsius' bankruptcy filings show. Ripple provided the comment in response to Reuters' queries regarding the court filings.

A lawyer approved to represent Ripple declined to comment.

Celsius did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Cryptocurrencies have had a rocky year, with the world's largest, bitcoin, down nearly 70% from its all-time high of $69,000 in November. Markets were shaken by the collapse of the popular terraUSD and luna tokens in May, which caused widespread losses for several major industry players.

According to bankruptcy filings, Celsius' assets include digital assets held in custody accounts, loans, a bitcoin mining business, the company's own CEL token