Celsius moves $125m in ETH to exchanges amid plan to repay creditors
Embattled crypto lender Celsius has moved over $125 million in Ethereum to various cryptocurrency exchanges in the last week, signaling its plans to commence creditor repayments.
Data from Arkham Intelligence shows that between Jan. 8 and 12, Celsius transferred Ethereum worth $95.5 million to Coinbase and $29.7 million to FalconX.
Despite these large transfers, the lender still holds substantial assets, including over 580,000 ETH, currently valued at approximately $1.47 billion, and 9,799 BTC worth around $417.67 million.
On Jan. 5, Celsius Network unstaked an impressive 206,300 ETH, valued at $470 million, with the intention of using these funds for expenses related to its restructuring and to prepare for the repayment of its creditors.
The move, however, has elicited mixed reactions from market observers. While some express concerns about the potential negative impact on Ethereum’s market value, others see it as a positive step for ETH’s long-term prospects, especially as Celsius works through its restructuring.
The repayment plan announced by Celsius includes the distribution of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) to its creditors, although a specific date for the commencement of these distributions has not been disclosed.
Creditors have been awaiting the return of their funds for over 18 months since Celsius first declared bankruptcy in July 2022.
The lender’s entry into bankruptcy was precipitated by a liquidity crisis amidst a broader downturn in the cryptocurrency market, leading to the freezing of withdrawals and a subsequent filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.
Celsius has since been actively working towards a settlement plan, which currently allows qualified users to withdraw 72.5% of their crypto holdings until Feb. 28. Court documents from September indicate that approximately 58,300 users had a combined total of $210 million in assets classified as “custody assets.”
Meanwhile, two companies associated with Sam Bankman-Fried‘s now-defunct crypto empire, FTX and Alameda Research, have also been transferring funds to centralized exchanges. Last week, these entities moved digital assets worth $28.2 million, including 402.6 Wrapped Bitcoin, 3,200 Ethereum, 602,000 Pendle, and 9.03 million People.
FTX and Alameda still hold around $1.2 billion in EVM assets, and the recent asset movements are speculated to be preparatory steps for sales aimed at compensating affected customers.
$400m token unlock pending
Additionally, CryptoRank, a crypto analytics platform, highlighted that seven crypto projects are set to unlock a total of $407.7 million worth of digital assets soon.
BitDAO leads this list with the impending release of 172.98 million tokens, representing 1.8% of its total supply and valued at $147.74 million.
Other significant tokens set to be unlocked are SEI, valued at $88.09 million; UNI, at $55.54 million, ACE worth $38.53 million, LDO at $28.48 million, AXS valued at $27.15 million; and APE at $22.48 million.
The upcoming release of these tokens is expected to have a further impact on the crypto market in the following week.
