Celsius transfers $125m worth of ETH to exchanges in effort to reimburse creditors
Crypto lender Celsius has transferred more than $125 million in Ethereum (ETH) to various cryptocurrency exchanges, indicating its intention to start repaying its creditors. The data from Arkham Intelligence reveals that between January 8th and 12th, Celsius moved $95.5 million worth of ETH to Coinbase and $29.7 million to FalconX. Despite these transfers, Celsius still holds significant assets, including over 580,000 ETH valued at approximately $1.47 billion and 9,799 BTC worth around $417.67 million. In a move that has garnered mixed reactions, Celsius Network unstaked 206,300 ETH, valued at $470 million, to cover restructuring expenses and prepare for creditor repayments. The repayment plan includes distributing BTC and ETH to creditors, although no specific start date has been disclosed.
Creditors have been waiting for the return of their funds since Celsius declared bankruptcy in July 2022. The lender’s entry into bankruptcy was a result of a liquidity crisis during a wider cryptocurrency market downturn, leading to withdrawals being frozen and a subsequent filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Celsius has been actively working on a settlement plan, allowing qualified users to withdraw 72.5% of their crypto holdings until February 28th. Court documents from September showed that approximately 58,300 users had a combined total of $210 million in custody assets. Meanwhile, FTX and Alameda Research, associated with Sam Bankman-Fried’s now-defunct crypto empire, have also been transferring funds to centralized exchanges. These entities moved digital assets worth $28.2 million, speculated to be preparatory steps for compensating affected customers.
In addition, CryptoRank highlighted that seven crypto projects are set to unlock $407.7 million worth of digital assets. BitDAO tops the list with the impending release of 172.98 million tokens valued at $147.74 million. Other tokens set to be unlocked include SEI ($88.09 million), UNI ($55.54 million), ACE ($38.53 million), LDO ($28.48 million), AXS ($27.15 million), and APE ($22.48 million). The release of these tokens is expected to have an impact on the crypto market in the coming week.
