Crypto Gets a Visit From the Behemoth of Bankruptcy Law

It didn’t take long for Kirkland & Ellis to stake its claim to the cascade of legal work sure to flow from crypto’s worsening collapse.

The white-shoe law firm is guiding both Voyager Digital Ltd. and Celsius Network LLC through first-of-its-kind bankruptcies. The crypto lenders filed for Chapter 11 protection this month amid a plunge in the value of the digital tokens and a selloff across the broader market.

For Kirkland, the work will likely be as difficult as it is plentiful: billions of dollars of customer assets are tied up on the platforms and little existing case law speaks ...