Celsius Wallet Transfers $36M into Coinbase and FalconX Platforms – What’s Going On?
On-chain analytics blockchain platform Lookonchain has identified a Celsius wallet making transfers to crypto exchanges.
Sharing the information on X (formerly Twitter), Lookonchain highlighted that the defunct crypto lending protocol’s wallet deposited 13,000 Ether tokens – equivalent to $30.34 million in fiat currency – to the Coinbase trading platform.
Additionally, another 2,200 Ethereum tokens, valued at $5.13 million, were sent to the FalconX exchange. All these transactions occurred within a 10-hour timeframe, indicating increased activity from the defunct decentralized finance (DeFi) lending network.
The #Celsius wallet deposited 13K $ETH($30.34M) to #Coinbase and 2,200 $ETH($5.13M) to #FalconX again in the past 10 hours.
Currently, 2 staking wallets of #Celsius still hold 557,081 $ETH($1.3B).
Address:https://t.co/3gGOucC9gYhttps://t.co/zodN4gzVHKhttps://t.co/Jjt9fCN2Ej pic.twitter.com/E9DIZ9KDAH
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) January 23, 2024
The Lookonchain post also revealed that two other Celsius-staking crypto wallets collectively hold 557,081 Ether tokens, amounting to an impressive $1.3 billion.
Prior to this deposit, the Celsius Wallet transferred 18,000 Ether tokens, worth $40 million, to the Coinbase exchange 12 hours earlier.
Since initiating payouts on November 13, 2023, Celsius has deposited a whopping 280,670 Ether tokens, totaling $621 million, across Coinbase, OKX, and FalconX centralized trading platforms, according to Lookonchain.
The #Celsius wallet deposited 18K $ETH($40M) to #Coinbase again 12 hours ago.#Celsius has deposited a total of $280,760 $ETH($621M) to #Coinbase, #FalconX, and #OKX since Nov 13.
And #Celsius currently holds 540,029 $ETH($1.2B).https://t.co/3gGOucC9gY pic.twitter.com/cNxa0Wgd73
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) January 24, 2024
Celsius Network’s deposits are part of its payout strategy to compensate affected investors of its bankruptcy. The DeFi protocol, via its official X handle in early January, announced it will be unstaking its Ether token holdings to facilitate timely distributions of digital assets to creditors.
It also disclosed that the activity will be used to offset some of the costs it incurred during its restructuring process.
In preparation of any asset distributions, Celsius has started the process of recalling and rebalancing assets to ensure ample liquidity
— Celsius (@CelsiusNetwork) January 4, 2024
Explaining the rationale behind this move, the blockchain protocol noted that its staked ETH assets had generated significant returns, making the recall process more manageable.
Despite playing a pivotal role in promoting DeFi and crypto lending services in 2021 and 2022, Celsius Network faced significant challenges, leading to the platform’s forced bankruptcy filing.
The value of its ERC-20 CEL tokens also suffered a 99% dip due to the platform’s inability to fulfill customer withdrawal orders.
Project founder and CEO Alex Mashinsky is currently facing charges for multiple counts of fraud and selling unregistered securities from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
According to court filings, the SEC is also taking legal action against the blockchain protocol and its founder for their alleged involvement in market manipulation of the CEL token.
BTC Mining Company Setup to Aid in Bankruptcy Process
While a substantial portion of deposits is being utilized to reimburse investors, the challenges for the Celsius Network persist.
To facilitate the ongoing restructuring, a court ruling has authorized the establishment of a Bitcoin mining facility named NewCo. This BTC mining company will be capitalized with $225 million.
2/ Background: On Dec 27th 2023 the courts granted an order for Celsius to proceed with the "MiningCo Transaction" – this provides a path out of Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. The key terms are:
– A $BTC mining company will be set up and capitalized with $225m of cold hard fiat cash.
-…
— 0xBoboShanti (@0xBoboShanti) January 17, 2024
The mining company has recently disclosed its financial figures, revealing a 19% yield increase over its optimal overclock specifications for its hardware. Notably, the Bitcoin holdings of the company witnessed an 89% surge, although its cash balance experienced a reduction.
