Qishin Tariq · · 2 min readCrypto firm Celsius freezes transactions, cites extreme market conditions
Crypto lending firm Celsius has frozen transactions for all its users, saying this action was necessary to protect and preserve assets in order to “meet our obligations to customers.”
“Due to extreme market conditions, today (June 13) we are announcing that Celsius is pausing all withdrawals, swap, and transfers between accounts. We are taking this action today to put Celsius in a better position to honor, over time, its withdrawal obligations,” it said, on its community blog.
After the announcement, Celsius’ token (CEL) fell from US$0.36 at 10 am to a low of US$0.15 at 11:04 am, according to crypto asset tracker CoinMarketCap.
Celsius to US$ chart / Photo credit: CoinMarketCap
The freeze was possible due to a clause in the firm’s terms of use, as part of its risk management framework to preserve and protect assets. Despite the pause in transactions, customers will continue to accrue rewards.
Crypto reporter Colin Wu tweeted that Celsius transferred about 3,500 Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) – valued at US$89 million – to cryptocurrency exchange FTX at around 10 am on June 13. It also transferred about 50,000 Ethereum (ETH) worth US$68 million to FTX earlier.
Recently, it was reported that Bitcoin may see its lowest weekly close since late 2020 amid an ongoing sell-off. The asset was trading at around US$25,000 on June 13, the lowest so far this year. ETH, the largest altcoin, also took a beating, falling around 7% yesterday.
Celsius was founded in 2017 by its chairperson and CEO Alex Mashinsky and S. Daniel Leon, the company’s chief strategy officer. It launched its CEL token that same year.
Editing by Miguel Cordon and Joy Tirkey
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