New Jersey-based cryptocurrency lender BlockFi has requested the court to approve bonus paychecks for its staff so the company can keep its talent throughout its bankruptcy proceedings, according to court documents filed on Monday, YahooFinance.com reported. “Despite an incredibly turbulent time in the digital asset industry, the opportunities for participants elsewhere have not dried up,” BlockFi Chief People Officer Megan Crowell said in a submitted declaration. “The war for talent remains active, and the participants have many opportunities inside and outside the cryptocurrency sector.” Last week, Zodia Markets, a digital asset exchange based in London, hired the former BlockFi head of international’s institutional sales in Asia, Paul Howard, as its own head of sales. BlockFi fired about two-thirds of its workforce and filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in late November following the collapse of the Bahamas-based cryptocurrency exchange, FTX.com. Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the exchange, had agreed to a deal to rescue BlockFi from earlier financial woes in July, before FTX filed for its own bankruptcy on Nov. 11. The unsecured creditors' committee has submitted objections to BlockFi’s retention plan, while the U.S. Trustee in the case objected to the lender’s decision to seal from the public details on the proposed payments and recipients. A lawyer representing the unsecured creditors' committee argued in the court filings that BlockFi is seeking permission to spend US$12.3 million for retention payments and up to another $12 million in estate resources and fees.
