Celsius to unstake $470mln in Ethereum ahead of repayments
written by Bella Palmer
On January 5, the lending firm, which has been in bankruptcy court since its Chapter 11 filing in July 2022, said that it has started shifting assets to “ensure ample liquidity” in preparation for any asset distributions
Embattled crypto lending platform Celsius has confirmed it has begun recalling and rebalancing its crypto assets, including Ether, as it prepares for “timely distributions to creditors.”
On January 5, the lending firm, which has been in bankruptcy court since its Chapter 11 filing in July 2022, said that it has started shifting assets to “ensure ample liquidity” in preparation for any asset distributions.
Celsius said that it will unstake its existing Ether holdings, “which have provided valuable staking rewards income to the estate.”
The liberated Ethereum will be used to offset certain costs incurred during the restructuring process and unlock ether to ensure timely distributions to creditors, the lending firm added.
The move is positive news for customers who have been waiting nearly 18 months to get their funds back. Under the recovery plan, Celsius said it would distribute Bitcoin and/or Ether to creditors.
Blockchain analytics firm Nansen reports that nearly a third of the Ether in the pending withdrawal queue currently belongs to Celsius.
This is a huge 206,300 ETH valued at around $468.5 million at current prices. The analytics firm also reported that 19,906 validators were waiting for a full exit and that Celsius has already withdrawn 40,249 ETH to date.
While some have shared concerns that the move would “dump” Ether on the markets, others suggest that is a positive move for Ethereum markets in the long run.
Celsius was among the several crypto lenders to go bankrupt during the crypto contagions of 2022.
In November, the company announced a scaled-back post-bankruptcy strategy focusing on Bitcoin mining. Nevertheless, the judge presiding over the firm’s bankruptcy proceedings voiced displeasure regarding the abrupt change.
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