The Israeli-American crypto company Celsius stops all withdrawals, exchanges and transfers from investors’ accounts. In a statement issued by the company, it states that this has been done for the benefit of the community, and that it will continue to provide information to its customers. The announcement comes after a 95% drop in the currency in the past year.
Celsius, one of the founders of the Israeli entrepreneur Daniel Leon, is mainly involved in banking: she can deposit crypto for interest, and she provides loans against crypto that is deposited with her. It offers customers a high return of about 15% on average for deposits, in a practice called “striking” and has received much criticism since the collapse of the stable currency Luna.
The company has grown rapidly in recent years, but the upheaval it is going through can be learned from its website: If only at the end of March according to its website it managed $ 19.1 billion in assets for 1.6 million customers, now the site shows that it manages 151.53 bitcoins, which are approx. $ 5 billion. Last October it raised $ 400 million at a value of $ 3 billion. Celsius does not have a license to operate in Israel, and in fact its core activity is banking and is not at all within the scope of the Supervisor of the Capital Market, which is considering licensing crypto entities in Israel.
In addition to licensing issues, Celsius faces additional challenges, such as security challenges, after last December a cyber hack led to the loss of $ 54 million from its assets.
The CEL currency plunged immediately upon the announcement to about $ 0.088 but corrected slightly and traded at about $ 0.3.