TLDR
- A judge dismissed 15 claims against Chainalysis but let one fiduciary-duty claim move forward.
- The surviving claim centers on a disputed 2020 Celsius release describing $3.3 billion in assets as audited.
- Twelve claims were dismissed with prejudice, while three others can be amended by October 20.
- The court said the complaint sufficiently alleged Chainalysis knew the statements were false and helped spread them.
- Celsius first calculated about $1.18 billion before changing its methodology to reach the $3.3 billion figure.
A U.S. judge has ruled that Chainalysis must keep defending part of a lawsuit tied to Celsius Network’s 2022 collapse. The case centers on a 2020 announcement that described $3.3 billion in Celsius assets as audited.
JUST IN: Chainalysis survives part of Celsius-related lawsuit, with an aiding-and-abetting claim over the disputed $3.3B audit remaining. This keeps Celsius-Audit scrutiny alive to watch for potential downstream effects on transparency and regulatory signals. $CHAINALYSIS pic.twitter.com/D2VHYOhY9d
— Bpay News (@bpaynews) October 1, 2026
Judge Margaret Garnett issued the ruling on September 29 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. She dismissed 15 claims against Chainalysis but allowed one to continue.
The surviving claim accuses Chainalysis of aiding and abetting a breach of fiduciary duty. The Blockchain Recovery Investment Consortium is pursuing it on behalf of the collapsed lender’s estate.
How the $3.3 Billion Figure Was Reached
The dispute traces back to November 2020. A Celsius executive named Timothy Cradle used Chainalysis software called Reactor and calculated assets under management of about $1.18 billion.
According to the complaint, Celsius insiders later changed the methodology. They added the value of Celsius’s own CEL token holdings to the total.
That change pushed the figure up to roughly $3.3 billion. On December 9, 2020, Celsius announced what it called a completed audit confirming that exact amount.
The release said the work was Celsius’s first outside asset verification. A Chainalysis executive was quoted saying the company helped verify the accuracy of the numbers.
The current lawsuit alleges that description was misleading. It claims Chainalysis approved the word “audit” five times before the release went out.
What the Court Decided
Judge Garnett said the complaint went further than claiming Chainalysis simply stood by. She wrote that it alleged the company had knowledge and gave active help.
That combination, she said, was enough to let the aiding-and-abetting claim proceed past the dismissal stage. The ruling does not decide whether the allegations are true.
Twelve other claims were dismissed with prejudice, meaning they cannot be refiled. Several failed because the underlying consumer claims could not legally be handed to the litigation administrator.
Three more claims were dismissed without prejudice. The estate can try to fix them with an amended complaint due October 20.
Chainalysis also argued that Celsius itself took part in the conduct and should be blocked from recovering damages. Garnett said that argument had merit but could not be resolved at this stage of the case.
Chainalysis said it was unable to comment on the ruling.
Other Celsius Recovery Efforts Continue
The Chainalysis case is one piece of a larger effort to recover money for Celsius creditors. The estate filed the lawsuit in March 2025.
Separately, Celsius is pursuing roughly 6,360 BTC from BitMEX entities over 2020 liquidations. That amount was valued near $495 million when the complaint was filed.
Creditor payouts have moved forward on their own track. Celsius issued a third distribution worth $220.6 million in August 2025.
That payment brought reported recoveries to 64.9% of eligible claims at the time. Former Celsius co-founders have also faced separate legal action this year.
Shlomi Daniel Leon and Hanoch Goldstein agreed to pay a combined $6.5 million to settle FTC claims. Former CEO Alex Mashinsky is serving a 12-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to fraud charges.
The next deadline in the Chainalysis case is October 20. The estate must either amend its three dismissed claims or tell the court it will not pursue them further.
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