Cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius Network has announced that it will be pausing withdrawals, swap and transfers between accounts due to ‘extreme market conditions’. “We are taking this action today to put Celsius in a better position to honour, over time, its withdrawal obligations,” Celsius said. 

The action is taken to stabilise liquidity and operations and take steps to preserve, protect assets. Furthermore, customers will continue to accrue rewards during the pause, the company wrote in its blog post. 

Token on the decline

The company’s token, CEL, is trading at $0.185, down by 52.6 per cent in the last 24 hours, according to Coingecko. The token was at an all-time high of $8.05 in June, and has been on a declining trend ever since. 

Post the announcement, the already declining broader crypto market too dipped further. Bitcoin (BTC) fell more than 6 per cent to an 18 month low of $24,888. Ethereum (ETH), the second largest crypto by market capitalisation, also dipped by 8 per cent trading at $1,303, its lowest since March 2021. 

Crypto under pressure

Owing to increase in interest rates globally, and the failure of various crypto projects such as TerraUSD, the crypto market has been under pressure. In recent months, the market has entered a bear phase as prices are on a declining trend. 

Celsius said its objective is to stabilise liquidity and restore withdrawals, swap, and transfers between accounts as quickly as possible. “There is a lot of work ahead as we consider various options, this process will take time, and there may be delay,” it added. 

The platform had raised $750 million in a funding round last year and the platform is a prominent player in the cryptocurrency lending sector. According to its website, the company had processed $8.2 billion in assets, as of May 17. The platform allowed users to deposit their crypto tokens and offered as much as 18 per cent interest a year.

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