Although Digital Currency Group (DCG) claimed that it has repaid its entire debt to bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Genesis, an ad hoc group of Genesis creditors has said in court papers filed in the Southern District of New York Bankruptcy Court that DCG has a substantial debt remaining.
Unpaid interest and late fees amount to $26 million, the creditors told the court on Jan. 8. In addition, there is a question about the form of payment:
“Nothing in the Partial Repayment Agreement permits the DCG Entities to satisfy their USD and BTC [Bitcoin] obligations in any asset other than USD and BTC and certainly not via the transfer of illiquid instruments which cannot be monetized or distributed to creditors in satisfaction of their claims against the Debtors.”
The “illiquid instruments” the creditors referred to were Grayscale Ethereum Classic Trust (ETCG) and Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE), which had been held as collateral. As of early December, ETCG was selling at a 69% discount to its net asset value, and ETHE was selling at a 50% discount. Those funds have not been approved by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and are sold over the counter.
Related: Genesis sues parent company DCG, other affiliate for $600M loans, then stays action
After the ETCG and ETHE shares have been monetized and used to purchase Bitcoin (BTC), with the cost of the purchase paid by DCG, true accounting will be possible, the creditors added.
1/ On January 5th, 2024, @DCGco (and @BarrySilbert) triumphantly announced it had *finally* paid off a loan due in May 2023 to its child company Genesis (now in bankruptcy).
— Vijay Boyapati (@real_vijay) January 8, 2024
This announcement follows a pattern of deception used by Barry and DCG for over a year.
Thread time pic.twitter.com/nQeRll9V8y
A statement of the official committee of unsecured creditors also filed on Jan. 8 indicated that DCG stated that, under the partial repayment agreement as amended on Nov. 28, DCG agreed that the aggregate principal amount of its loans was 2,737.77102141 BTC and 14,048 Bitcoin Cash (BCH), with late fees of 10.12600241 BTC.
DCG announced the repayment of its loans from its affiliate Genesis on Jan. 5. Genesis halted withdrawals in November 2022 and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January 2023.
DCG did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Cointelegraph about the creditors’ claims.
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