• Digital Surge, an Australian crypto exchange, is set to come back online after stakeholders sign the recovery plan.
• The exchange will resume trading next week and this is the first successful restructuring of a Australian cryptocurrency exchange.
• Creditors were notified earlier today through a circular and the documents were signed before the deadline ended on Wednesday.

Australian Crypto Exchange Digital Surge Set to Come Back Online

Australian cryptocurrency exchange Digital Surge is set to come back online after stakeholders signed the recovery plan on Wednesday, according to documents seen by CoinDesk. The exchange is expected to resume trading next week, a person familiar with the situation said.

Background

The Brisbane-based exchange was hit hard by the collapse of FTX as it held 33 million Australian dollars on the defunct platform founded by Sam Bankman-Fried. In December, Digital Surge passed into voluntary administration, a process in which the management hands over control to licensed insolvency practitioners who independently assess its financial situation. Melbourne-based investment firm KordaMentha was appointed as administrators.

Creditor Approval

In late January 2023, creditors approved a long-term recovery plan for Digital Surge that still needed the company and the administrators to sign on the dotted line within 15 business days. The documents were signed before the deadline ended on Wednesday. Under Australian law, the approval of a judge is not required, as the vote of the creditors is what decides the outcome.

Reaction

This is the first successful restructuring of a Australian cryptocurrency exchange according to Michael Bacina, digital asset specialist and partner at Piper Alderman. “Digital assets face challenging legal issues,” he said, “and it took hard work of knowledgeable specialists to get here”. He also added that this deal was testament “to goodwill seen throughout blockchain community in Australia”.

Conclusion

The successful restructuring of Digital Surge marks an important milestone for crypto exchanges in Australia and shows that stakeholders can come together in order to successfully recover from difficult situations such as these ones.