CEL, the native token of the Celsius platform, a crypto lending service company, has crashed by over 50% in the last 24 hours as the company announced early Monday it would pause withdrawals, citing “extreme market conditions.”
The company announced it would also pause its swap and transfer products, according to a blog post. It did not provide a timeline for resuming withdrawals.
What the blog post said
The blogpost by Celsius stated, “We are writing with a very important message for our community. Due to extreme market conditions, today 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.
“Acting in the interest of our community is our top priority. In service of that commitment and to adhere to our risk management framework, we have activated a clause in our Terms of Use that will allow for this process to take place. Celsius has valuable assets and we are working diligently to meet our obligations.
“We are taking this necessary action for the benefit of our entire community in order to stabilize liquidity and operations while we take steps to preserve and protect assets. Furthermore, customers will continue to accrue rewards during the pause in line with our commitment to our customers.
“We understand that this news is difficult, but we believe that our decision to pause withdrawals, Swap, and transfers between accounts is the most responsible action we can take to protect our community. We are working with a singular focus: to protect and preserve assets to meet our obligations to customers. Our ultimate objective is stabilizing liquidity and restoring withdrawals, Swap, and transfers between accounts as quickly as possible. There is a lot of work ahead as we consider various options, this process will take time, and there may be delays.
“We thank the incredible Celsius community for your support today. It is our pleasure to serve you. Our operations continue and we will continue to share information with the community as it becomes available.”
What you should know
- The announcement comes on top of Celsius telling non-accredited investors that they could no longer transfer funds.
- The company also recently replaced its Chief Financial Officer, after former CFO Yaron Shalem was arrested by Israeli police in 2021.
- The price of Celsius’s CEL token fell over 50% after the news came out. In the last week, the token has lost over 75% in value, bringing its market capitalization to stand at $46.9 million, currently ranked #377.
- The company has also faced regulatory issues, with law enforcement entities issuing cease-and-desist orders against it.
- Crypto reporter Colin Wu, who goes by @WuBlockchain on Twitter, posted on Monday that Celsius has transferred about 104,000 ETH to FTX in the past three days.
