Ex-Algorand CEO Steve Kokinos tapped to lead Celsius 2.0

According to court filings, the board will be expanded to nine seats

article-image

mundissima/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

NewCo may soon have a new CEO. 

The new company would rise from the ashes of the bankrupt crypto lender Celsius.

A filing on Friday, Sept. 8 nominates nine new directors and Steve Kokinos as CEO. 

The plan, which the creditors and Fahrenheit put together, boosted the number of seats on the board from seven to nine. 

Kokinos stepped down as CEO of Algorand in July of last year. He’s also a co-owner of Fahrenheit, which won the auction for Celsius in May of this year. As part of the deal, Fahrenheit took control of around $500 million worth of liquid crypto.

“Kokinos has been a serial entrepreneur and investor for over 25 years, founding and operating companies ranging from internet infrastructure, cloud software, communications and crypto,” the 170-page document said.

Michael Arrington, the founder of Arrington Capital, is also named as a possible board member in the documents. Arrington Capital is also an equity owner of Fahrenheit. 

Other board members include Thomas DiFiore, Scott Duffy, Emmanuel Aidoo, Elizabeth A. LaPuma, and Fredrick Arnold.

Celsius received court approval on its disclosure statements detailing a plan to sell assets to Fahrenheit in August. With the approval, the bankrupt crypto lender moved a step closer to exiting the bankruptcy process. 

Earlier this summer, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, Federal Trade Commission and the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The CFTC claimed that Celsius “duped” customers into depositing crypto on Celsius.

The Department of Justice also charged ex-Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky with defrauding customers. According to recently unsealed documents, the DOJ froze Mashinsky’s assets in August.


Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter.

Get alpha directly in your inbox with the 0xResearch newsletter — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

kamino cover.jpg

Research

Kamino has solidified its position as the leading money market on Solana and is emerging as a DeFi bluechip. Although DeFi competition is fierce, Kamino has kept iterating on its product to provide the best-in-class UX, paired with a robust risk management framework and battle-tested infrastructure. Given the rollout of Kamino Lend V2, the protocol may scale aggressively over the coming months, penetrating previously untapped markets in Solana DeFi.

article-image

Also in the tokenized fund space, Franklin Templeton launches on Base and Securitize hits $1 billion in tokenized RWA onchain

article-image

It turns out that bitcoin never actually hit an all-time high in March. Thanks a lot, inflation.

article-image

Spire, Citrea and Nillion also announced raises this week

article-image

The latest recipient of an SEC Wells notice is a Web3 gaming company

article-image

Thursday’s selloff was led by tech stocks, triggered by disappointing outlooks from giants Meta and Microsoft

article-image

Historically, positive returns have been a bit more of a toss-up during the year’s 11th month