© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Illumination of the stock graph is seen on the representations of virtual currency Bitcoin in this picture illustration taken taken March 13, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
Por Tom Wilson y Elizabeth Howcroft
LONDON, June 13 (Reuters) – The price tumbled on Monday after leading U.S. crypto lending firm Celsius Network froze withdrawals and transfers citing “extreme” conditions, in the latest sign of the impact of financial market turmoil in the cryptosphere.
* The measure of Celsius caused a collapse of all cryptocurrencies, whose value fell below a trillion dollars on Monday for the first time since January last year, dragged down by the 11% drop in the largest “token”, bitcoin.
* Following the Celsius announcement, Bitcoin hit an 18-month low of $23,476. The second-largest cryptocurrency, ether, fell as much as 16% to $1,177, its lowest since January 2021.
* Cryptocurrency markets have tanked in recent weeks as rising interest rates and surging inflation hurt riskier assets across financial markets. The May crash of the terraUSD and luna tokens also rocked the industry.
* “It’s still an uncomfortable time, and there’s some risk of contagion around crypto in general,” said Joseph Edwards of fund management firm Solrise Finance.
* Celsius offers interest-bearing products to customers who deposit cryptocurrency on its platform, and then lends cryptocurrency for a return.
* In a blog post, the company said it had frozen withdrawals, as well as transfers between accounts, “to stabilize liquidity and operations while we take steps to preserve and protect assets.”
* “We are taking this action today to put Celsius in a better position to meet its retirement obligations over time,” the New Jersey-based company said.
(Additional reporting by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan in Bengaluru and Alun John in Hong Kong; editing in Spanish by Carlos Serrano)