A crypto lending platform’s native token is the latest casualty after a challenging month in the digital asset space that saw tens of billions of dollars disappear from an already hurting market.
In a Sunday evening announcement, Celsius Network (CEL) said that extreme volatility in the cryptocurrency markets made it necessary to temporarily stop withdrawals and transfers.
“Celsius Network is pausing all withdrawals, swap, and transfers between accounts.
Acting in the interest of our community is our top priority. Our operations continue and we will continue to share information with the community.”
Celsius adds in a blog post that the decision was made “in order to stabilize liquidity and operations while we take steps to preserve and protect assets.”
Competing crypto lending platform Nexo (NEXO) publicly announced that it had submitted an offer to buy up Celsius Network’s assets.
“After what appears to be the insolvency of Celsius Network and mindful of the repercussions for their retail investors and the crypto community, Nexo has extended a formal offer to acquire qualifying assets of Celsius Network after their withdrawal freeze.”
Celsius Network hit an all-time high of $8.05 almost exactly one year ago, but the token has witnessed a steady slide downward ever since.
As of a month ago, CEL was valued between $0.80 and $0.96 and then maintained the $0.70 level until a week ago. Having dipped into the $0.40-range on Saturday, the altcoin then instantly dropped 57% from $0.35 to $0.09 as news of the network pause spread, putting just under 99% down from its all-time high.
At time of writing, Celsius Network has made up some of its losses but remains down 44.7% on the day with an asking price of $0.25.
CEL’s woes come on the heels of Terra (LUNA) and its affiliated algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) imploding in mid-May. Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon also faces legal scrutiny from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding its Mirror Protocol, which offers the ability to trade synthetic versions of traditional stocks.
