Celsius, a crypto lender, abruptly halted all customer withdrawals, swaps, and transfers for the benefit of its entire community. The company said its intention is to put Celsius in a better position to honor, over time, its withdrawal obligations.
In a blog post on Medium, Celsius described it as a necessary action for the benefit of its entire community. The crypto firm wants to stabilize liquidity and operations while taking steps to preserve and protect assets. Celsius’ customers will continue to accrue rewards during the pause in line with its commitment to the customers.
Celsius highlighted that swaps and transfers between accounts are the most responsible action it takes to protect the community. The company is focused to protect and preserve assets to meet its obligations to customers. Its ultimate goal is to stabilize liquidity and restore withdrawals, swaps, and transfers between accounts as soon as possible. Celsius pointed out that they are considering various options, as such, the process will take time and there would be delays.
Celsius’ CEL token reacted by plunging 70% in one hour from a prior high of $0.49 on Sunday to the lows of $0.15. Crypto investors were quick to draw comparisons to the Terra collapse and the Ponzi scheme Bitconnect. But then nearly all major cryptocurrencies and altcoins have nosed dived – from Bitcoin, Ethereum, to BNB, Cardano, Avalanche and Solana.
Launched in 2017, Celsius offers a high yield to its customers for crypto deposits. The company shares the business model with BlockFi and Nexo, among others. Despite Celsius’ downturn, Zac Prince – BlockFi CEO – tweeted that all BlockFi services continue to operate normally. The platform has zero stETH exposure and exited the principal positions BlockFi had in GBTC last fall.
