Although the IMF recently announced at Davos that it would upgrade its global economic forecasts, with an improvement predicted in the later part of 2023 and into 2024, times remain difficult for many companies and their lenders – and are likely to remain so for a while yet.

Background

The bankruptcy of FTX Trading, a major U.S. crypto assets exchange, is bringing to light the pitfalls of global bankruptcy. The reason for this is that FTX Japan, a Japanese subsidiary of FTX Trading, also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. This differs from the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Group given the Japanese subsidiary of FTX Trading did not file for bankruptcy in Japan due to a significant excess of assets.

Two recent court decisions may indicate more uncertainty with respect to the enforceability of “make-whole” premiums in bankruptcy. Make-whole or prepayment premiums are common within loan agreements, bond issuances and other debt instruments.

Introduction

Singapore's bankruptcy and insolvency laws have been undergoing a structured reform in order to modernise the insolvency regime. As part of this reform, the personal bankruptcy regime has been moving towards administration by Private Trustees in Bankruptcy ("PTIBs") instead of by the Official Assignee ("OA").

The Supreme Court of India (“Supreme Court”) in the case of Sabarmati Gas Limited vs. Shah Alloys Limited held that (a) in an application under Section 7 or 9 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (“IBC”), the period of limitation would be 3 (three) years from the date when the right to apply accrues, i.e.

The bankruptcy court presiding over the Chapter 11 cases of digital asset platform Celsius Network LLC and its affiliates (Celsius) issued a key ruling on January 4, 2023 (the Decision), by concluding that a significant portion of digital assets held in Celsius’ customer accounts are property of the debtors’ estates, and holders of such accounts accordingly are unsecured creditors.

Many cryptocurrency lenders have declared bankruptcy. These loss events are indicators of the significant losses the cryptocurrency market has experienced this year.

For investors who have suffered, an important consideration is how to capitalize on these losses. Accordingly, this article will analyze the recent Celsius Network (“Celsius”) bankruptcy and the tax strategy of writing off bad debt.

The Celsius Bankruptcy

Earlier this month, the SDNY Bankruptcy Court answered one of the gating questions at the center of Celsius Network’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy regarding the ownership of the approximately $4.2 billion in crypto assets.

Bankruptcy benefits for individual debtors are a tough sell—always have been.  That’s because no one likes bankruptcy—unless they need it.

But relieving people from debts in unfortunate circumstances is essential to our collective way of life in these United States.  That’s always been true.

What follows is the first of three installments on some history of bankruptcy laws through the ages, beginning with ancient times—and to the present in these United States.

Ancient Days

Not all residential tenancies will be in the name of an individual. Sometimes it will be a company looking to take out the tenancy in their own name. Generally, this will be for the use of the one of the directors and their family. Often these sorts of agreements are seen as beneficial to many landlords who are under the impression that the company will be prompt with payment and ultimately good for the money. Whilst this can certainly be the case, it does not always work out this way.