Celsius Network Unloads Altcoins Amidst Ex-CEO’s Legal Fallout

Celsius Network initiates substantial altcoin sell-off amid management upheaval.

Asset liquidation coincides with ex-CEO Mashinsky’s legal troubles as a Shift in asset management signals possible strategic change for Celsius.

Amid turbulence in the management hierarchy, Celsius Network, a top crypto-lending platform, initiates a substantial sell-off of altcoins, marking a possible strategic shift.

According to Lookonchain, a leading blockchain analytics firm, Celsius Network recently liquidated a sizeable chunk of its altcoin holdings. Specifically, Celsius offloaded 1.27M LINK ($8.5M), 2.83M SNX ($7.84M), 12,597 BNB ($3M), 4.45M 1INCH ($2.26M), and 8.53M ZRX ($1.9M) among other tokens.

Notice that #Celsius started selling altcoins.

1.27M $LINK ($8.5M), 2.83M $SNX ($7.84M), 12,597 $BNB ($3M), 4.45M 1INCH ($2.26M), 8.53M $ZRX ($1.9M), and 439K $FTX ($713K) were transferred to #FalconX.

And 186,149 $BONE ($235K) was deposited into #OKEx.https://t.co/Auf2S9Z2Z5 pic.twitter.com/Dbznr0w3Le

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) July 17, 2023

Interestingly, the altcoins were mostly sold into FalconX before being transferred to Binance. Moreover, the firm transferred 186,149 BONE, approximately $235K, into the popular crypto exchange OKX.

Altcoins Liquidated, Focus Shifts to BTC and ETH

Based on Lookonchain’s tweet on July 6, Celsius predominantly converted its altcoins to Bitcoin and Ethereum, the reigning cryptocurrencies. The tweet further noted that most altcoins were transferred to an account labeled “0x4131”.

Notably, Celsius transferred 1,393 StaFi (rETH) to Wintermute Trading, receiving an equivalent amount in ETH. Despite the sales, Celsius still held a whopping $164.5 million in altcoins on the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chain.

$164.5M of altcoins include:

651M $CEL($100.8M);
3.16M $LINK($19.9M);
98,268 $AAVE($7.36M);
2.9M $SNX($6.2M);
7.95M $TGBP($5.49M);
1,812 $PAXG($3.45M);
…https://t.co/Veqr5qHYOx

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) July 6, 2023

Significantly, the altcoins in Celsius’s possession include their native CEL tokens, Chainlink, AAVE, Synthetix, TrueGBP, and Paxos Gold. These holdings reflect a concerted strategy to diversify assets within the crypto space.

Consequently, the timing of this asset liquidation corresponds with Mashinsky’s legal issues. Arrested on July 13 and released on a $40 million bail, the former CEO’s predicament could catalyze these transactions. However, Celsius has not officially linked these events.

Nonetheless, these changes in Celsius’s asset management indicate a shift in strategy, potentially due to the uncertain atmosphere surrounding the company. The repercussions of this move are yet to unfold in the cryptocurrency market.