On Sunday, Celcius, a crypto lending firm based in Florida in the United States, released a statement announcing a pause in withdrawals from the platform. The firm cited the tumbling of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies as its primary reason for halting transactions.
According to sources, prior to when the statement was released, Celcius' financial resources to enable withdrawal by customers could only last a couple of weeks. The company, unarguably one of the biggest crypto lenders in the crypto space, is said to service about 1.7 million customers. Also, to notify the public of the halt in transfers and withdrawals, the firm tweeted from its official Twitter handle.
@CelsiusNetwork is pausing all withdrawals, Swap, and transfers between accounts. Acting in the interest of our community is our top priority. Our operations continue and we will continue to share information with the community.
According to reports by the Financial Times, Celsius, led by Alex Mashinsky, had roughly $12 billion in assets owned by 1.7 million customers in May.
Celcius also put out a note to customers saying,
Due to extreme market conditions, today we are announcing that Celsius is pausing all withdrawals…We are taking this action today to put Celsius in a better position to honor, over time, its withdrawal obligations.
When the public got wind of the news, the value of the Celsius token, the native asset of Celsius, plummeted to $0.21 per coin.
Presently, the crypto market isn't doing so well hence the latest developments by crypto companies such as Celcius. On Sunday evening, Ethereum's price went downhill, with a coin valued below $1,400.
Additionally, BlockFi, a crypto lending company, was raising a round valued at $1 billion last week. This figure is way below the figure's value, $5 billion; according to reports, it was rising in 2021.