BlockFi says they have engaged Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) as their distribution partner to ensure continuity of crypto withdrawals available to their eligible BlockFi Interest Account (BIA), Retail Loan, and Private Clients.
As previously reported, BlockFi emerged from bankruptcy as of October 24, 2023.
BlockFi filed for bankruptcy in November of 2022 following the collapse of multiple crypto firms, culminating in the failure of FTX – once one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world. Prior to declaring bankruptcy, BlockFi had paused operations, seeking an alternative path. The company said it had explored every option to no avail and thus sought the path of seeking to maximize value for its shareholders.
BlockFi, previously a top crypto lender and yield platform, was once valued at $3 billion.
As the window to request a withdrawal the initial round of eligible estate funds using the BlockFi platform has closed, BlockFi says it will be “working closely with Coinbase” to enable the following:
- Clients will be provided with further details via account email on file, including instructions necessary to create an account on Coinbase.
- Crypto-eligible clients who did not withdraw their digital assets distribution from the BlockFi platform by the deadline of April 28, 2024, at 11:59 PM UTC (or did not complete an identity verification request by the deadline of May 10, 2024 at 11:59 UTC) from the current round of estate distributions will, rather than such assets being liquidated to cash, have funds made available in kind and can withdraw if they create or have an open and approved Coinbase account.
- Crypto-eligible clients who did not make their withdrawal by the deadline to withdraw from BlockFi’s platform and who also did not create an approved Coinbase account may have their in-kind distribution liquidated to cash and distributed to them in cash, pursuant to the Plan.
The Plan Administrator will have “the ability to use Coinbase for future rounds of distributions, including distributions based on funds recovered from FTX. ”
Absent this capability, under the Plan, the Plan Administrator “would only be able to make distributions in cash for subsequent distributions.”
For BlockFi clients who are “unable to open a Coinbase account, all distributions will be made in cash, pursuant to the provisions of the Plan that require cash distributions where crypto distributions are not feasible.”
Be advised that BlockFi will NOT be partnering “with any other providers for crypto distributions, so we ask our clients to be vigilant of scam attempts from third-party bad actors targeting BlockFi clients.”
Additionally, the BlockFi web platform “will shut down in May 2024. The specific date remains under consideration, given ongoing work and initial distribution, but after this date, clients will no longer be able to access the BlockFi platform. The specific date will be separately communicated over the next few weeks.”
BlockFi also noted:
“We advise all clients to download their transaction history, tax forms, and any other important data from the platform prior to the shutdown date. In order to access your transaction history and tax documents, log into the BlockFi web platform, and navigate to Reports from the top right hand corner menu where you will find available data that you can download.”
