Cryptocurrency lending platform, Nexo, has immediately taken the opportunity to express interest in buying certain assets from its rival, Celsius, after the latter said it was freezing withdrawals and transfers because of extreme market conditions.
In a public letter to Celsius, Nexo said it was particularly interested in Celsius’ collateralized loan portfolio. Nexo publicized the letter, which didn’t mention a price, in a tweet.
Recall that Nairametrics reported that earlier today, Celsius announced it would freeze withdrawals and also pause its swap and transfer products. It did not provide a timeline for resuming withdrawals. The announcement comes on top of Celsius telling non-accredited investors that they could no longer transfer funds.
What you should know
- To freeze withdrawals, Celsius said, “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.”
- The cryptocurrency market has slumped in recent weeks amid weakness in the macroeconomic environment. Bitcoin has declined for almost 12 straight weeks, sliding from almost $49,000 in March 2022 to under $25,000.
- The total crypto market cap, which peaked about $3 trillion in November, dropped below $1 trillion today, data from CoinMarketCap shows.
- In its letter, Zug, Switzerland-based Nexo said it was looking to acquire assets “mostly or fully of collateralized loan receivables secured by corresponding collateral assets, as well as brand assets and the customer database.”
- In an audit earlier today, Nexo said it had $6.2 billion in customer liabilities and held assets in excess of that amount.
The NEXO token price is down by 22% in the past 24 hours amid a market-wide sell-off. Celsius’ CEL token has lost more than 50% of its value following its announcement.
