The crypto winter has brought a flurry of bankruptcy filings into the digital asset space. As pioneering cryptocurrency platforms collide with the Bankruptcy Code, unprecedented questions of law have left customers asking a fundamental question: who owns my crypto?

This question is especially prevalent in cases where the debtor company’s platform offered custodial accounts to customers. Digital asset custodial accounts have unusual attributes that have revealed cracks in customer protection when custodians have filed for bankruptcy.

On Wednesday, November 3, the House Judiciary Committee approved legislation on a party-line vote that could drastically reshape chapter 11 restructurings, particularly in cases involving significant tort liability. The bill, the Nondebtor Release Prohibition Act of 2021 (the “NRPA”) is sponsored by Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Oversight Chairman Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), and Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI), who chairs the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law, which has jurisdiction over bankruptcy law-related issues.

Does the owner bear the risk in case of bankruptcy?

Due to the tense situation in the hotel industry, various lessees are currently approaching their lessors asking for deferral or abatement of rent payments for the period ahead. There are many suggestions for possible compromises - but the insolvency law situation must always be taken into account in order not to create any risks for tenants or lessors. The comments in this article apply equally to hotel usufructuary leases.

Currently discussed compromises

Eigentümerrisiko im Insolvenzfall?

Aufgrund der angespannten Situation in der Hotelbranche treten aktuell diverse Mieter an ihre Vermieter heran und bitten um Stundung oder Erlass der Mietzahlungen für die kommende Zeit. Die Vorschläge für mögliche Kompromisse sind vielfältig – dabei ist aber immer auch die insolvenzrechtliche Situation zu beachten, um hier keine Risiken für Mieter oder Vermieter zu schaffen. Die Ausführungen dieses Beitrags gelten gleichermaßen auch für Hotelpachtverträge.

Aktuell diskutierte Kompromisse