Embattled crypto lending firm Celsius has allocated $25 million in altcoins for withdrawals. In addition, Celsius redeemed $500M in wBTC.
$25 million altcoin transfer from Celsius
Blockchain intelligence firm Arkham Intelligence announced in a report that Celsius Network has set up a crypto wallet containing $25 million in crypto assets for the lender’s custodian account holders to withdraw. The firm’s managing director noted in a court hearing on Wednesday that eligible customers had withdrawn about $17.7 million in crypto assets. He stated that this represents 60% of eligible custodian users and 80% by crypto value.
Assets transferred, USD 10.39 million Coin (USDC), 8.8 million Ethereum (ETH), $4.31 million, including Binance USD (BUSD), DAI (DAI), Paxos Dollar and Gemini USD (GUSD) altcoin and $1.57 million other stablecoins.
How does Celsius handle the withdrawal process?
As you follow on Kriptokoin.com, Celsius was among a few of the high-profile crypto companies that collapsed amid the crypto market turmoil last year. The lender stopped user withdrawals in June and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July. A subsequent court proceeding involved a heated debate about the ownership of assets that customers had deposited on the platform.
The lender said on March 2 that it had initiated withdrawals with certain limitations for certain custodian account holders, after receiving approval from the US bankruptcy court. According to a court document, Celsius was authorized to distribute 94% of each eligible user’s surveillance assets. However, Arkham reported that $13.62 million was withdrawn from the $25 million fund based on blockchain transaction data. An Arkham analyst said the other $4 million withdrawal was likely in Bitcoin (BTC). By the way, it should be noted that Arkham does not monitor transaction data on the Bitcoin Blockchain.
Celsius’ $500 million wBTC maneuver
Celsius also burned nearly $500 million worth of Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC) at the end of February, according to the Arkham report. A wBTC token represents one BTC on the Ethereum Blockchain. The lender sent over 20,000 wBTC in two batches to a separate address and then forwarded the tokens to crypto trading company FalconX. FalconX sent the tokens to another account, possibly owned by the Celsius liquidator or a partner. The asset then burned, or redeemed, tokens for native BTC.
Celsius redeemed over $500M in wBTC / Arkham IntelligenceThe maneuver could be part of Celsius’ plan to consolidate its crypto holdings and amortize client withdrawals in BTC. In August, sources reported that while the crypto lender held only 14,578 BTC and 23,348 wBTC on its balance sheet, its BTC holdings were largely underfunded as it owed nearly 105,000 BTC to its clients.
Celsius has more than $1 billion in crypto assets in crypto wallets on the Ethereum Blockchain, according to Arkham data. This includes assets on other blockchains, including BTC that was recently redeemed on the Bitcoin Blockchain. The lender’s largest assets are the $638 million Lido Staked Ethereum (stETH) and the $251 million lender’s own CEL tokens.
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