Cryptographic lending platform Celsius Networks LLC said on Sunday that it was pausing all withdrawals, exchanges and transfers between accounts “due to extreme market conditions.”
“We are taking this action today to put Celsius in a better position to meet, over time, its withdrawal obligations,” the New Jersey-based company said in a statement.
Celsius is one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency lending companies, and at one time claimed more than $ 20 billion in assets. But it has also clashed with regulators, and some users have recently blamed Celsius for high financial losses to encourage them to keep their CEL digital testimonials as collateral for loans: CEL fell 48% on Sunday afternoon and it has lost more than 75% of its value in the last month, and 97% in the last year, according to CoinGecko data.
From May: Celsius faces a revolt as a high-performance crypto plummets
The widest cryptocurrency space has been affected this year, with the total cryptocurrency market falling by more than 40% over the past two months. Bitcoin BTCUSD,
for example, it has fallen below the $ 26,000 level on Sunday and has lost 45% of its value so far; it has fallen more than 60% from its all-time high last November.
“We understand that this news is difficult,” Celsius said on Sunday. “We work with a unique approach: to protect and preserve assets to meet our obligations to customers.”
Celsius said his operations were continuing, but that there was “a lot of work ahead while we consider various options.”