​​​​Arrington removes himself from board of Celsius successor following board observer appointment

Michael Arrington, founder of Arrington Capital, has left the board of the Delaware company formed from the bankrupt crypto lender Celsius just thirteen days after agreeing to join. Arrington will be succeeded by Ravi Kaza, who is part of Fahrenheit Holdings, the consortium that made the winning bid to acquire Celsius’s assets in May.  

Arrington said his decision to leave was the result of disagreements concerning “some of the decisions made around board constitution and, in particular, the board observers” in a post on X. Arrington also noted that his statement was “heavily edited by attorneys,” though he also affirmed that he still fully supports the deal and looks forward to contributing “in ways other than participating on the board of directors.”

Arrington’s departure follows the appointment of three new board observers to “NewCo,” the yet-to-be-named corporation that will succeed Celsius’s operations. Arrington’s specific dispute appears to be with the appointment of Simon Dixon, the only one of the three new observers he did not “warmly welcome” to the position in his X post. 

Dixon, in a quote post to Arrington’s announce​​ment, welcomed Kaza to the board and stated “I wish you the best Michael Arrington @arrington. Feel free to unblock me. No offence [sic] taken. Onwards & Upwards. Nothing but ❤️ from me.”

In their posts, Arrington and Dixon both insinuated that more of the story might eventually surface, with Arrington stating, “I am not able to go into much detail on why I requested this change, but that information will come out in due time.” Dixon agreed, stating, “One day this story will be told by [Fahrenheit] as this is their election.”

Arrington and Dixon did not immediately return a request for comment from The Block. 

A critical moment for Celsius

The board shakeup comes as Celsius creditors await the results of a vote to approve the company’s plan to sell assets to the Fahrenheit consortium. The results of the vote, which ended Sept. 22, will be announced by 4:00 pm Eastern Time on Monday, Sept. 25, according to a filing. 

Following creditor approval of the plan, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York will hear the case and rule on final approval of the plan at a hearing currently scheduled for Oct. 2. If the creditor vote fails, it will be back to the drawing board for Celsius and Fahrenheit.