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Celsia

Introduction In case you didn’t notice, the crypto market has been remarkably red . The sharks are smelling blood and circling around it. My dad is convinced that the market will not recover. I think most dads are. Once again, crypto looks like . since June 11 Dutch tulip bulbs in the mid-1600s Today, I will tackle a very present and difficult topic, Celsius Network — the centralized crypto exchange that suspended all withdrawals from its platform two weeks ago. Mine and 1.7 million other users’ deposits are now frozen and possibly at stake. Exactly such a situation that Bitcoin was designed to provide assurance against by eliminating the need to trust in banks and other third parties. Personally, I’ll admit that I have placed a large portion of my crypto savings in Celsius. Not enough to ruin my financial future if I lose it, but it will surely hurt for a long time to come. However, I remain cautiously optimistic about seeing my funds again. If not, an expensive lesson has been learned. I turn the deaf ear to a loud minority of trolls and bots that spread toxicity, invented information, and FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) on social media. Many actual stakeholders in Celsius seem to be defaulting to emotionalism and doomerism at every turn and keep saying “that it’s all over”. In this post, I will give a comprehensive and factual account of “the Celsius freeze”. I will look into how the freeze happened, and what caused it, include some personal reflections on a possible outcome, and on what I have learned from my mistakes. Everything I say is with reservation to the fact that information at the current time is limited. Be prepared for a lot of information and no financial advice. Celsius Network Celsius is a large company that employs more than 650 people. Last year, Celsius raised $750 million in funding and was valued at more than $3 billion. The people behind Celsius are for the most part competent individuals with good track records. One exception would be the former CFO, Yaron Shalem, who was arrested for charges of money laundering, fraud, and sexual assaults in November last year. Or the former Head of Institutional Lending, Jessica Kharter, who starred in an amateur adult movie 1–2 years prior to her high-level role at Celsius. [1] [2] [3] On the other hand, CEO has founded 4 Unicorns (companies with a + $1 Billion valuation) and authored more than 50 patents. Chief Risk Officer has more than ten years of experience as a risk executive from Morgan Stanley. Current CFO, , has more than ten years of experience as a finance executive from the largest bank in Canada, RBC. Alex Mashinsky Rodney Sunada-Wong Rod Bolger Celsius works much like a traditional bank but is used for borrowing and lending out crypto assets instead of fiat. Unlike a traditional bank, users can earn high yields by depositing their crypto on Celsius. For example, I am earning an APY (Annual Percentage Yield) of 2.5% on Bitcoin, 6% on Ethereum, 7.10% on Tether, 9.02 % on Polkadot, and 3.82% on Solana. That is possible because Celsius lend out mine and other “yield farmers” assets on a short-term basis to actors that can generate profit for themselves by arbitrating, market making, or short selling. According to CEO Alex Mashinsky, Celsius is doing the equivalent of lending out securities in the digital world. [4] Frozen Customer Funds Celsius suspended withdrawals about two weeks ago. They posted a to “the community” shortly after all assets were frozen on Sunday 12 June that reads: memo “ ” Due to extreme market conditions, today we are announcing that Celsius is pausing all withdrawals, Swap, and transfers between accounts. We are taking this action today to put Celsius in a better position to honor, over time, its withdrawal obligations. Following the announcement, on the night of Monday, June 13, Celsius’ native token $CEL–used as rewards for users on the platform — took a nosedive. $CEL plunged more than 55% in an hour, while speculations that Celsius was on the brink of bankruptcy circulated on social media. TerraLUNA-looking [5] To make matters worse, when we read Celsius’ paragraph 13.1 it says: Terms of Use ” “In the event that Celsius becomes bankrupt, enters liquidation or is otherwise unable to repay its obligations, any Eligible Digital Assets used in the Earn Service or as collateral under the Borrow Service may not be recoverable, and you may not have any legal remedies or rights in connection with Celsius’ obligations to you other than your rights as a creditor of Celsius under any applicable laws. Or in plain, non-legalistic English: “If Celsius goes bankrupt, you will probably not see your funds again.” However, as we shall see later, the evidence seems to indicate that Celsius is suffering more from a liquidity problem, than an insolvency problem. That being said, there is not much information about what really is going on behind the curtains. The Celsius team has more or less remained radio silent, except for a few formal announcements in legalese (not revealing much). They cancelled their weekly AMA session (Ask Mashinsky Anything) on June 17 where the community of anxious and enraged customers hoped to get some answers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akHW8Xen4Cw The only reasonable sub-conclusion we can draw for now is that Celsius was unable to meet its obligations as the withdrawal requests piled up and users mass-migrated from the platform. Analysts have accused Celsius of gambling with users’ crypto funds to earn high yields. “The gambles” have sometimes proven to be unsuccessful. For example, Celsius was the largest holder of , a staking solution for Ethereum 2.0 (more on staking solutions in the next section). On June 22, 2021, Stakehound announced that it had lost the keys to over 38.000 ETH deposited on behalf of clients. According to Dirty Bubble Media, Celsius’s loss amounted to at least 35.000 ETH, around $50 Million in today’s bear market conditions. Celsius did not reveal any information about their loss to the public. Stakehound Staked Ether [6] [7] Another incident came from Celsius’s involvement with BadgerDAO which fell victim to a phishing attack at the end of last year. Celsius lost 896 BTC corresponding to $20 Million in today’s bear market. [8] There could easily be other incidents or examples of poor risk management which led to Celsius’ liquidity problems but are not yet publicized or documented. There is no way of knowing… Staked Ether Data shows that Celsius among other factors became illiquid because of its large holding in Lido Staked Ethereum (stETH). Quickly summarized, stETH is an Ethereum derivative that is irredeemable until Ethereum switches the consensus model from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS). This long-awaited transition is referred to as “ ”. The event was scheduled to happen in August this year but is delayed indefinitely. the Merge Currently, all transactions on the Ethereum network are validated on two blockchains, the Ethereum Mainnet (Ethereum 1.0) which uses PoW, and the (Ethereum 2.0) which uses PoS. All transactions on Ethereum are still processed on the Mainnet, while the Beacon Chain is running for the sake of testing, syncing, and providing early security to the upcoming Ethereum 2.0 update. Beacon Chain The biggest incentive for participating as a miner or a validator is the payout of block rewards. Right now, the rewards paid for validators on the Beacon Chain are only fractional compared to that of the miners on the Mainnet. Besides, there are two major drawbacks to staking on Ethereum 2.0: Users need a minimum of 32 Ether (ETH) to participate in staking on the Beacon Chain. The 32 ETH are locked until the Merge happens. The hefty entry requirement of 32 ETH is a stop block for most everyday crypto users. And even for larger players with deep pockets, yields come with the price of illiquidity as their staked ETH cannot be touched perhaps for 1–2 years, or even longer. This is where and stETH come into the picture. stETH is a tokenized version of staked ETH that can be used for trading and lending. Lido Finance currently offers a yield of 4% paid out in daily rewards for users to stake on the Beacon Chain. There is no entry requirement which means that anyone can participate without 32 ETH. The stETH tokens are also fully redeemable for ETH after the merge is complete. Lido Finance [9] Staked Ethereum is supposed to have the exact same value as ETH. But coinciding with the larger sell-off in the crypto market, stEth was trading at 0.9413 per ETH on June 10 and went even further down to 0.9341 on June 13. The loss of its 1:1 peg to ETH echoes the fall of USTs’ peg to the dollar which led to the TerraLuna crash. However, unlike TerraUST, there is no strict requirement for stETH to maintain its peg. Lido has no choice but to honor stETH redemptions after the Merge regardless of its peg. The problematic part about stETH trading lower than ETH is a matter of liquidity. [10] [11] Celsius holds a huge amount of stETH. As of right now (25–06–2022), there are 409.706 stETH in . The entire business model of Celsius evolves around staking large amounts of crypto from users’ funds, earning yields, and paying rewards back to the users. But now that stETH can no longer be redeemed in 1:1 value to ETH the tokens are effectively locked. If Celsius did decide to sell off stETH in large quantities, the price would likely tank even further. What caused this stETH’s de-pegging? Celsius’ Aave vault [12] #CELShortSqueeze Blockchain data shows that Celsius pulled out 225,000 ETH from Terra’s Anchor Protocol right before UST lost its peg to the dollar and TerraLUNA crashed. A common theory is that Celsius fell victim to a coordinated short-selling attack from “the crypto mafia”. The attack is rumored to be a vendetta for Celsius’s front-run in the UST sell-off. [13] Market analyst and Twitter user has posted a where he dissects namely how the exchange FTX and the trading firm Alameda Research worked together to bring down Celsius. They dumped large shares of stETH simultaneously, while other actors were deliberately spreading FUD on social media causing the “bank run”. On-chain analysis indeed shows that Alameda dumped 50,615 stETH onto the market in 2 hours on June 8, two days prior to stETH losing its peg. Besides, the $CEL token was (image from June 10) on the FTX exchange before the withdrawal freeze. PlanC two-part thread [14] heavily shorted Celsius supporters (or “Celsians”) in the Reddit group and under the trending twitter hashtag , have been buying up large amounts of $CEL tokens over the past days. The plan is simple: buy $CEL on FTX at a low price, send the tokens to a private wallet like MetaMask, and set a high sell limit order for example on a $100. r/CelsiusNetwork #CELShortSqueeze [15] The Celsius short squeeze purports to give traders who speculated about the downfall of Celsius a taste of their own medicine. The token is low in liquidity. According to estimates, 87% of $CEL is locked up in the withdrawal freeze. By buying up $CEL, the supply decreases, the demand increases, and so does the price. In resemblance to the dynamic, the short sellers will eventually be forced to close their shorting positions with large losses which will spike the price of $CEL further upwards. Gamestop vs. r/wallstreetbets So far, the #CELShortSqueeze-plan seems to be working. $CEL spiked 50% on June 21 reaching $1.56 compared to 0.17$ on June 13. [16] Heading Towards Bankruptcy or Temporary Liquidity Squeeze? Insolvency per legal definition means “unable to pay debts as they become due”. We can distinguish between “cash flow insolvency” and “balance sheet insolvency”. [17] [18] A company is “cash flow insolvent” when it lacks the liquidity right now to meet its obligations. A company is “balance sheet insolvent“ when it actually does not possess the assets at all to cover its obligations. The 20-billion-dollar question is (ten months ago, to manage $20B+ in total asset holdings) if Celsius is cash flow insolvent (illiquid) or balance sheet insolvent. Current blockchain data points to the former, while stories in the media and general online FUD point to the latter. Celsius reported As a private unregulated company, the public is not able to see what Celsius’ balance sheet looks like. Celsius reported their financial figures and audit reports for 2019 and 2020. Suspiciously enough, nothing was released in 2022 despite multiple calls from investors on social media platforms. [19] As of June 25, Celsius’ loan on the DeFi Protocol (see the vault ) corresponds to $225 Million. Loans on the Maker protocol are paid out in DAI, a stablecoin pegged 1:1 to USD. The borrower is required to provide collateral. Further, the collateral has to exceed the value of the loan, called overcollateralizing. For example, borrowers can put in $150 worth of volatile crypto assets and get a loan for $100 worth of DAI stablecoin. MakerDAO here [20] As it appears from the screenshot of Celsius’ wallet below, they have collateralized 23,963 as a security for the loan in DAI. The unit is Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC). wBTC are Ethereum tokens based on the fungible ERC-20 standard with a value pegged 1:1 to Bitcoin. Simply put, wBTCs are Ethereum tokens that equal the value of Bitcoin. Over the last two weeks, Celsius users have paid close attention to the liquidation price of currently $13.609. If Bitcoin falls below that price level, the loan in DAI is automatically repaid with Celsius’ collateral in wBTC via the smart contract. This will likely make Celsius balance sheet insolvent. On Monday 13 June, Celsius came dangerously close to liquidation while Bitcoin’s price plummeted. Only 17,919 wBTC was stored as collateral in the wallet by that time with a liquidation price of $22,584. [21] Luckily, as the activity in the vault shows below, Celsius managed to repay part of its DAI loan and add collateral to bring down the liquidation price, before it was too late. On June 20, Celsius in debt to . On June 24, they in debt to . Another loan that Celsius took on was also fully paid off last week (see vault ). paid off more than $10 Million DAI Compound paid off +$10 Million DAI Notional Finance Chainlink of $34 Million here Celsius is evidently paying off loans to not have them liquidated. Their overall financial situation also seems to have improved a lot during the last two weeks when we look . As of June 26, their net worth is $1,942,068,006.62, an improvement of +$650 Million from June 13 as screenshotted below. at their combined wallet portfolio To inject even more hopium in the veins of frozen Celsians, stETH seems to be slowly regaining its peg to ETH, exceeding 0.965 on June 25. [22] Everything I have mentioned in this section seems to indicate that Celsius is suffering from a temporary liquidity squeeze and that they are not likely to file for bankruptcy anytime soon. In my personal view, a buy-out from another exchange seems like a more likely and (obviously) much better outcome for the users. Another interesting development is , CEO of the crypto investment company who offered to . such as Nexo Simon Dixon Bnktofuture help Celsius with a recovery plan In spite of all these positive signs, that Goldman Sachs was seeking $2 Billion in commitment from investors to buy Celsius if they filed for bankruptcy. Celsius’ and restructuring attorneys from the have allegedly recommended this outcome. That is the worst-case scenario for reasons I will omit to discuss here. However, according to from Goldmann Sachs, the story is fake news. The Wall Street Journal reported on June 24 [23] advisors from Citigroup Bank law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP [24] Simon Dixon’s insider sources Again, no one can publicly say what is going on for sure. There seems to be about an equal amount of FUD and hopium in the online space. Speculations, rumors, and theories, but the few people with real insight into the matters have signed NDA’s. Until an official announcement has been made, stakeholders are unfortunately left in the dark for an indefinite time. We are reminded of Terra co-founder, Do Kwon’s infamous, confident tweet that appeared when TerraLUNA was in free fall to near zero. https://twitter.com/stablekwon/status/1523733542492016640 My Closing Thoughts Now there is a hollow ring to Celsius’ slogan “Unbank yourself”. As I saw one YouTube commenter point out they delivered on their promise. However, if Celsius wounds up and pay out dividends to expensive bankruptcy lawyers and trustees before their users, many “Celsians” will inevitably “uncrypto themselves” by keeping their savings in the bank from now on. If Celsius gets margin called and liquidated on their DAI loans, analysts foresee a cascading effect on the rest of the crypto market. Other companies could be liquidated as well, perhaps even falling like domino pieces, while the price of Bitcoin and crypto would tank further. Therefore, it should be in everyone’s interest that Celsius pulls out of this, or at least be able to pay back customers’ deposits. Warren Buffet is not the most popular figure in crypto circles four years after . Nonetheless, the crypto community — myself included — could without a doubt learn a lot from his thorough, value-based investment strategy (The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham is high on my reading list). he referred to Bitcoin as rat poison Like many others, I admit that I was blinded by Celsius’ promise of high yields, their gigantic backing from traditional finance players, their weekly AMAs, and whatnot. Simultaneously, I did not perform sufficient due diligence on the company or pay enough attention to Crypto Twitter leading up to the crash. I also neglected some basic rules of investing that say don’t be greedy and diversify among exchanges. Or as the old, commonplace Bitcoin saying goes: Not your keys, not your coins. Despair and angst are of course understandable on behalf of anyone who has money at stake in Celsius right now. However, a true entrepreneurial spirit can rise from ashes and come back stronger. No matter what, life goes on. In the end, good relationships, and good health is more important than cold assets. So better focus on that for a while. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W327zdQ0x0 Also Published here

It Got Really Hot With Celsius

Hidden behind the public view is our industry’s biggest secret, the so-called crypto shadow banking, where billions of dollars were borrowed & lent on an un-collateralized basis. Crypto shadow banks such as Celsius engaged in crypto borrowing & lending but were not licensed banks. Celsius was outside the requirements of fully licensed banks, which have capital reserves to cover losses from bad loans or available liquidity in case of a bank run. With the promise of high-interest rates, Celsius raised billions of dollars from retail and institutional investors. All those billions of dollars got lent out further to the world’s biggest crypto traders such as Three Arrows Capital Pte Ltd and Alameda Research, which fueled the spectacular bull run in 2021 that took Bitcoin from $10'000 to above $69'000. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and Federal Trade Commission sued today the founder & CEO for securities fraud, commodities fraud, and wire fraud. In a nutshell, the CEO repeatedly lied to investors about the risks. He claimed that all loans by Celsius are secured & collateralized, while the truth was the platform gave out uncollateralized loans to the world's largest crypto traders that spectacularly blew up after the Terra/LUNA collapse. Additionally, the CEO was dumping the worthless CEL token on retail, while using clients' funds to prop up the price of the token on crypto exchanges. The saga around the bankrupt crypto shadow banks continues and until we as an industry resolve these issues, we can expect the ongoing nuclear crypto winter to continue.

CRYPTO SHADOW BANKING: Celsius CEO Arrested as SEC, CFTC and FTC Sue the Bankrupt Crypto Lender

This is by (source: ). Jonwu runs the newsletter “forty iq” alongside @0xbarry. Twitter thread Jonwu.eth @jonwu_ 06-14-2023 https://twitter.com/jonwu_/status/1536476104986267648?embedable=true&thread=true

The Rise and Fall of Celsius

Hey Hackers! On March 29th, Ray Youssef, the Founder, and CEO of Paxful, announced that the peer-to-peer marketplace will be refunding all of their customers affected by the Bitcoin collapse of Celsius. The two crypto companies had a business partnership that allowed Paxful users to earn a yield on their Bitcoin through Celsius Earn. After the collapse and subsequent bankruptcy of Celsius, customers who had assets earning yields were unable to withdraw as they were locked up in Celsius. The customers of Paxful Earn are unable to access their funds after the bankruptcy courts decided that the Earn accounts belonged to Celsius and not each individual customer. “Bitcoin is a tool for wealth preservation, and for many, this was money they depended on for their future. Earning your trust is an absolute honor and it’s a responsibility that I take very seriously. I’m happy to announce that I’ve personally taken action and will be refunding all affected Paxful users — your Celsius funds will be available in your Paxful wallet later this week.” - , Founder and CEO of Paxful Ray Youssef The announcement by Youssef states that affected Paxful customers can expect their assets to be refunded to their wallet “later this week”. There were no other statements regarding when the refunds will process, but users should expect it by the end of this weekend. Paxful users are expectedly in a great mood as they have gone from a place of uncertainty, for almost a year, to getting all their assets back with the snap of a finger. Below is the tweet from Founder and CEO Ray Youssef sharing the awesome news: https://twitter.com/raypaxful/status/1641105827892264960?embedable=true “I’m truly sorry for what you’ve gone through. Bitcoin is building a better financial system for the 100% — but in order to rebuild this, we all need to hold ourselves to a higher standard. That means offering transparency and putting users above financial gain — always.” - , Founder and CEO of Paxful Ray Youssef This type of news is simply amazing to see and it brings hope that there are good outcomes for those that keep the faith. It also cannot be overstated how respectable and generous this move is by the Paxful Founder/CEO Ray Youssef. Some may still complain that this should have been done many months ago, but the fact of the matter is that he is stepping up now and putting his money where his mouth is. This is more than you can say about most other crypto exchanges or companies. At the end of the day, I think we can all agree that this is a positive outcome to a really poor situation and we should applaud good behavior when we see it. I, for one, wholeheartedly applaud Ray Youssef for this generous action, and I would love to see this perpetuated throughout the crypto industry. What are your thoughts on this news? Are you a customer of Paxful? If so, how do you feel about getting a 100% refund after all this time? Do you think this will start a trend of crypto companies refunding affected customers? Also published here.

Paxful Reimburses All Users Impacted by Celsius Bankruptcy

The crypto industry’s biggest secret -  the Shadow Banking System, where cryptocurrencies worth billions of dollars are borrowed & lent on an un-collateralized basis, between some of the industry’s biggest names, was exposed in recent months as the biggest driver of the spectacular bull market... . as well the collapse & contagion that is still ongoing While the crypto shadow banks are going through their most difficult moments, it was the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) decision to declare a lending program an unregistered security offering might have unintentionally saved Coinbase from the same deadly blow that struck BlockFi, Celsius, Voyager, Gemini, and many others. Crypto shadow banks are companies that engage in bank-like activities such as borrowing & lending but obviously are not licensed banks, hence fall outside the regulatory constraints of fully licensed banks, which are required to have capital reserves to cover losses from bad loans or available liquidity in case of a bank run. With the promise of “L ”, crypto shadow banks such as Celsius, BlockFi, Voyager & Gemini managed to attract billions of AUM from professional and retail investors, which got lent out further to the world’s biggest crypto whales, the likes of 3AC and Alameda Research. ess risk than a bank with better returns for customers. In the midst of the 2021 bull market, the crypto industry’s second biggest player had its own plans to launch a lending program, namely Coinbase Lend. While the details of Coinbase’s Lend program are no longer publicly available, I found out that the program would work by “matching lenders of the USDC stablecoin with qualified borrowers” and that “ ”. Coinbase would guarantee the principal creditors lend out It is unclear whether Coinbase would match borrowers to lenders directly or simply create a pool out of which they could undertake lending activities. While the semantics of Coinbase’s wording is of less importance for this story, the playbook was meant to be similar to that of the largest crypto shadow banks; borrow cryptos worth billions of dollars from clients already onboarded with Coinbase and lend out in the Shadow Debt Market to worlds largest proprietary trading firms, hedge funds, and market makers. The details of Coinbase’s Lend program caught the attention of the SEC, and the US regulator reacted fiercely & aggressively by threatening to sue Coinbase if the program was launched. Coinbase Lend program was immediately scrapped, with Coinbase noting SEC’s “ ” since many other crypto shadow banks were engaging in those same lucrative borrowing & lending activities. unfair treatment The rest is now history. SEC’s decision unintentionally saved Coinbase from the same catastrophic fate that struck BlockFi, Celsius, Voyager, Gemini, and many more - the collapse of Terra/LUNA, the blow-up of 3AC, the fiasco of FTX & Alameda Research, and the ongoing contagion. In retrospect, it’s easy for crypto critics & skeptics to point fingers at crypto companies or praise regulators around the globe, but very few people understand the plumbing & infrastructure of the crypto ecosystem, with crypto shadow banking as the biggest mystery of them all. My goal is to provide insider insights into the secretive workings and shed light to strengthen our industry which will be the backbone of infrastructure for the world's growth in the coming decades.

SEC Saved Coinbase From The Fate That Befell Voyager, Celsius, BlockFi, and Gemini

La SEC salvó a Coinbase del destino que le sucedió a Voyager, Celsius, BlockFi y Gemini

La SEC a sauvé Coinbase du destin qui a frappé Voyager, Celsius, BlockFi et Gemini

SEC ने कॉइनबेस को वायेजर, सेल्सियस, ब्लॉकफाई और जेमिनी के भाग्य से बचाया

SECは、ボイジャー、セルシウス、ブロックファイ、ジェミニを襲った運命からコインベースを救った

SEC salvou Coinbase do destino que se abateu sobre Voyager, Celsius, BlockFi e Gemini

SEC đã cứu Coinbase khỏi số phận đã xảy ra với Voyager, Celsius, BlockFi và Gemini

SEC 将 Coinbase 从 Voyager、Celsius、BlockFi 和 Gemini 的命运中拯救出来

Both of us had lost money in 2018. Here is the backstory… When the whole thing began to unravel around Celsius, there was a meme circulating the internet. The meme showed 3 types of polygons, and included a fourth (satire) polygon which is the Celsius logo called yourfundsaregon. In case you didn't get it; your-funds-are-gon(e). Of course, the pun was intended as I shared it with my close contacts. And then my friend revealed (after laughing too) that he had funds in Celsius. I was pissed. This is someone who got burnt with me back in 2018. I had learned my lesson. I thought he had too. When I asked him why he would leave funds in Celsius, he said he gets 7% interest. That was a facepalm moment. A few months earlier… I created an Instagram account for personal fun. And it didn't take long for some salesperson to slide into my DMs She was going to talk me into buying crypto. She has no idea I was an OG in the space. Crypto was already in the bearish zone. But things haven't started falling apart. At first, I wanted to block and report the account immediately. But I gave her the benefit of doubt to say how she got to know me. Then, she cited the branding slogan of my Navy Seal friend. It felt warm, so I decided to hear her pitch out. I pretended I was a novice at first. So, she told me I could buy bitcoins, hold them in my wallet and be earning interest on them. Very compelling pitch, right? But as a shrewd investor, I wanted to know what their business model was. How can I be earning interest on bitcoin that is in my wallet? She made it sound so novel. Not sure what exactly she said that suggested it, but I got what they were doing. And I have been talking to my friends (which cared to listen to me) against it. They would be trading with my bitcoin and sharing a piece of the profit with me (aka interest). In other words, the bitcoin will not be in my wallet. I would just be looking at fancy numbers on their app interface. The only time I get to know if the bitcoins are really mine is when I ask for a withdrawal. I would be loaning out my bitcoins to traders or trading algorithms. As someone who has been screwed thousands of dollars in crypto before, I am not falling for that nonsense. I revealed to her that I was a crypto author. Showed her the link to my book. Then, let her know that I wasn't interested in their business model and showed her the flaw. She backed off for a while. A few weeks later, she came back with a much more aggressive pitch. And I blocked her instantly. A few weeks later, the failure of Celsius began to surface on Twitter. If there is anything I wish to communicate to anyone in the crypto space right now, this is it: "Crypto" and "Loans" do not belong in the same sentence. "Bitcoin" and "Lending" do not belong in the same sentence. "Crypto" and "Loans" do not belong in the same sentence I know this is coming quite late, as a warning. Nevertheless, it is something that should form a rigid part of a proper crypto investing philosophy going forward. The world of loans and lending is the world of central banking. Bitcoin is anti-central banking. Any attempt to make the crypto ecosystem like the central banking ecosystem will fail brutally. We have seen vivid examples in the last few months with projects like Terra Luna. But I can assure you that some people will try the concept again in a few years and give it some fancy branding and packaging. In my crypto book, I explained that crypto and central banking will co-exist. Any attempts for each one to replace the other will spell problems. If central banks create a cryptocurrency, they will fail. Their failure will be so loud and embarrassing. You can begin to see this with central bank digital currencies. It will fail. The countries that have implemented them have seen little to zero adoption. That's because crypto is anti-establishment. It is for options against the central banking economic system. In the same way, taking central banking ideas into crypto will fail. It is an ideological and philosophical thing. You cannot be doing fractional reserve with crypto. You cannot be doing quantitative easing in crypto. It's like someone pouring sand into your food and saying it is good because sand contains oxygen atoms. This is the reason many crypto projects are failing today. They want to replicate the ideas of a central banking system in crypto. Save yourself the time and headache, it will not work. Instead, focus your energies on things that could work. And there are tons of them. I digress to crypto hedge funds... Just because someone appears to have a lot of money than you doesn't mean they know better than you. Yes, I am not on CNBC or Bloomberg, but I can tell if someone up there is spewing BS. And you should be able to tell. My book is about a year old now and I literally made fun of certain narratives that happen every bear cycle. And every time I hear news that is consistent with what I said would happen, I just facepalm myself. Most crypto hedge funds don't know what they are doing. Remember, the crypto industry is just over a decade old. I can bet you didn't know what you wanted to do with your life at 13 years old. Even the traditional stock market that has existed for centuries, there are still lots of dumb players. Just because someone has big money to play doesn't mean they know more than you. It only means they have better access to money. A real hedge fund is supposed to have a strategy. Trading is not a hedge fund strategy. Even algorithms will betray you because you only have data for (about) 10 years. And this is not the central banking system where money can be printed. Buying a lot of bitcoin is not a strategy. I recommend dollar cost averaging for individuals investing in bitcoin. But I don't recommend it for hedge funds and institutions. They need to have a different strategy because of the size of funds. Now, it is revealed that some crypto hedge funds were just people loaning crypto to each other and looking for some arbitrage. That will end in tears. And it has for many already. Yes, the hedge fund may have a bit of trading activities in its strategy. But if it is for more than 30% of the portfolio, that is a professional day trading firm. Not a hedge fund. There is no “hedge”. The natural owner's tendency for bitcoin is to be stored. The natural owner's tendency for most other credible cryptocurrencies is to be used. This is the criteria you should use for a crypto hedge fund: What is the economic philosophy of the hedge fund? A crypto hedge fund that is not based on a sound "all-weather" economic philosophy is just a firm with a lot of money. You have to be a fundamentalist if you want to have a crypto hedge fund. You must have an economic worldview and it must be very sound (and account for every plausible market cycle). Back to My Stories... My friend's funds in Celsius are still gone. I am still against any kind of lending systems in crypto. And I know people will still do dumb things in crypto. So, we may have two more harsh bear markets. If you want to know if we are in the bull cycle or not, read my book. Oh, and if you want to start a crypto hedge fund, your focus shouldn't be on the coins. Cheers!

My Friend Lost Money in Celsius and Why it Pissed Me Off When I Found Out

Mi amigo perdió dinero en grados Celsius y por qué me molestó cuando me enteré

Mon ami a perdu de l'argent en degrés Celsius et pourquoi cela m'a énervé quand je l'ai découvert

मेरे दोस्त ने सेल्सियस में पैसा खो दिया और जब मुझे पता चला तो इसने मुझे नाराज क्यों किया

私の友人は摂氏でお金を失い、私が見つけたときになぜそれが私を怒らせたのか

Meu amigo perdeu dinheiro em graus Celsius e por que isso me irritou quando descobri

Bạn của tôi bị mất tiền ở độ C và tại sao điều đó khiến tôi tức giận khi phát hiện ra

我的朋友在摄氏温度下丢了钱，为什么当我发现它让我很生气

A Review of Earn, Lending and Savings Products One of the most well-known ways to increase the value of your cryptocurrency holdings and investment portfolio in recent years is through crypto lending and earn products. Due to the fact that crypto investors are increasingly focused on finding the most polished and compliant platform for crypto lending, it is vital that investors fully grasp how such crypto lending platforms work and the risks involved. : Vested Interest Disclosure The author is an independent contributor publishing via our . Be it through direct compensation, media partnerships, or networking, the author has a vested interest in the company/ies mentioned in this story. HackerNoon has reviewed the story for quality, but the claims hereon belong to the author. #DYOR brand-as-author program Understanding How Crypto Lending Works 101 In order to make an informed decision about which crypto loan platform is best for you, you must first have a thorough grasp of how they operate and their technological and lending infrastructure. The easiest approach to understanding how a crypto platform works is to concentrate on the different roles played by its various components as part of its business model, such as: Lenders are a crucial part of the crypto loan process as they provide loans to the company to generate yield on assets. In order to get a passive income from their crypto assets, they store them for an extended period of time with a crypto lending platform. Instead of selling their crypto assets, borrowers must use them as collateral to get loans. To reclaim their collateral, borrowers must also pay interest on the loans they take out depending upon the models and bonuses (using a native token) put forth by each crypto lending platform. The crypto lending platform governs the loan and borrowing procedure, it is critical for a user to read the terms of service to understand their rights and any material risks that they should be aware of. The platform may be centralised or decentralised. Depending on the kind of platform, matching orders, liquidity pools, or codes are used to govern the lending process. The following is a comprehensive selection of three cryptocurrency lending platforms, in no particular order. Best 3 Crypto Lending Platforms 1. Nexo It's no secret that Nexo is one of the most popular cryptocurrency lending and borrowing services in the world, and it's especially popular in Europe. Nexo, together with BlockFi and Celsius, is regarded as being one of the "big 3" lending platforms and has a strong reputation in the cryptocurrency and FinTech industries. With the fall of Celsius and the bailout of BlockFi. As per media reports, Nexo has also a term sheet with Vauld for potential acquisition. signed Nexo provides a crypto lending and earn product which allows users to earn Annual Percentage Yield (APY) by lending their crypto assets to the crypto lending platform. The crypto lending platform in return lends the assets to different borrowers to earn additional yield. On Nexo, the APY that customers receive is dependent on their degree of loyalty and the asset that they choose to hold their money in such as whether the users hold any native Nexo tokens. A user's loyalty level is determined by how much of their portfolio is invested in Nexo, rather than how much money they have invested. The greater the customer's loyalty level, the more APY rates they can earn in the Earn section and the lower interest rates are applicable to such borrowers. Further with Nexo, users may borrow for as low as 0% if they become Gold or Platinum members and maintain their loan-to-value ratio under 20%. On the Nexo platform, no credit checks or origination fees are required for users to borrow money. This is great for users who are holding Nexo tokens as it provides them with a competitive edge against other users using the Nexo services. In contrast to Voyager and BlockFi, Nexo does not provide typical crypto loans, but instead a crypto line of credit, which provides for more versatility in the borrowing process. Furthermore, Nexo is a pioneer in allowing users to borrow against their NFTs, making it the most asset-rich platform available. The owners of Bored Apes NFTs and CryptoPunk NFTs tokens may now borrow up to 20% of their valuable NFTs' worth - this is a great option for NFT holders. However, NFT users must conduct market due diligence before putting their NFTs as collateral due to market volatility and the experimental nature of such products. Customers may also get an additional 0.5 percent cash back on bitcoin purchases made via the site, with the amount varying according to the loyalty tier. Customers have to go through KYC and identification verification in order to buy crypto, although this will just take a few minutes. The lowest card transaction is $50, and the highest is $5,000, with a monthly ceiling of $10,000. Card transactions are immediate. Nexo Security Infrastructure Anybody that has been in the crypto world for any length of time recognises the significance of security, given the number of exchange hacks and tales of consumers losing their money that we hear. Nexo's security reputation and history are unblemished and unfortunately, there aren't many platforms that can say that. In order to safeguard money and offer $375 million in insurance, Nexo adheres to industry best practices and has worked with BitGo, Ledger Vault, Bakkt, and others. Third-party penetration testing is also carried out on Nexo's smart contracts to guarantee that there are no security holes. BitGo's SOC 2 Type 2-certified custodianship programme offers Nexo cold storage solutions and bank-grade class III vaults. Ledger Vault offers a cloud-based digital asset custody infrastructure and ensures digital assets up to $150 million. Bakkt offers Nexo cold storage solutions for Bitcoin and Ethereum that are air-gapped. Security solutions, certifications, and partners used by Nexo are shown in the image above. Secured networks with restricted access to customer information are in place. ISO/IEC 27001-certified information security management system Nexo employs to protect its customers' private data. 2. Cake DeFi The Cake DeFi’s current lineup includes Lending, Liquidity Mining and Borrowing products. Cake DeFi's loan rates are comparable to those of its DeFi competitors. In the event that the price of the native currency rises while the loan is outstanding, the advertised "guaranteed" APY increases accordingly. Cake DeFi has more than 73 million USD in rewards to its customers to date which indicates its capacity to allocate assets properly and provide users with a steady APY. paid Users deposit digital assets such as BTC, ETH, USDC, or USDT which are then locked in options contracts for a period of four weeks. The batch has a 28-day duration, beginning and ending on the Friday of each week. It's possible for customers to carry over into the following four-week term, remove their full principle and return to Cake Wallet, or take the profits only after the four-week period. Users can lend money with the assumption that it shall be repaid in full, with interest included. Users have the option of lending Bitcoin, Ether, USD Coin, or Tether (USDT). For the services Cake DeFi offers, Cake DeFi merely serves as a middleman or agent. To put it another way, Cake DeFi gives customers a "safe path" or a way to access decentralised financial services. Similar to a "black box," which gives minimal transparency and control to organisations other than itself, other CeFi systems, such as Celsius, are in sharp contrast. As a result, customers would be left in the dark about important issues like where their earnings are coming from and whether or not their money are being mixed with those of the company's operations. Cake DeFi’s belief is that in light of the difficulties that crypto investors are now facing, the industry as a whole should do more to ensure and safeguard its customers' funds which makes it one of the best crypto lending alternatives to Celsius and Voyager. 3. Crypto.com The Lending Platform offers a broad array of products with an easy-to-understand user interface. Through Crypto.com Lending, customers earn interest on their crypto investments, take out crypto-collateralized loans, receive crypto payments and trade crypto. Additionally, Crypto.com is well-known for its CRO token-based cards. All financial and risk-prevention requirements are adhered to by Crypto.com, which is a fully regulated crypto corporation. It means you won't be able to access its services, including the App and Exchange, anonymously. Crypto.com There are a number of countries where Crypto.com is now accessible. These include several in North and South America, Europe (including the UK), Australia (including New Zealand), Asia (including Singapore), and Africa (including Nigeria). You will be required to provide identification in order to complete the registration process. In order to use the platform, users must give the following: Authenticated full name Selfie with a government-issued ID to prove that you are still alive. Obtaining a Crypto.com Visa card necessitates submitting a current (within the last three months) utility bill as proof of residency. Get your account confirmed. It may take up to 3 business days to verify. On the service side, Crypto.com stores all customer money in secure cold storage facilities. An institutional-grade custody solution called Ledger Vault is used in conjunction with hardware security modules (HSM) and multi-signature keys to provide a high level of security. In addition, Crypto.com cold storage has a USD 500 million insurance coverage, which covers direct and indirect coverage through custodians, physical damage and third-party theft. Crypto.com Cold Storage and Security Crypto.com also employs HSM and multi-signature keys to safeguard its hot wallets. For day-to-day client withdrawal requests, the company's hot wallets store a small portion of its overall assets, which are enough to cover the company's daily withdrawal needs. Customers' deposits in fiat currency are protected by local rules since they are stored in highly regulated custodian bank accounts all around the world. For example, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insures USD accounts held by U.S. clients up to a maximum of $250,000 USD. However, Crypto.com allows you to keep control of your fiat cash, ensuring that neither the company nor any of its creditors may ever claim them. Using Crypto.com's two-factor authentication (2FA) and a combination of the passphrase, password, biometric (fingerprint & face ID), email and phone verification, you can keep your accounts safe from intruders at all times. Furthermore, the DeFi wallet allows you to maintain your own private keys, which means that you don't have to depend on the platform's security. Crypto.com is a safe and regulated crypto platform that Crypto.com provides on its platform with various security certifications and examinations by renowned security auditors. Buying, exchanging, and spending cryptocurrency is a breeze thanks to Crypto.com's beginner-friendly trading interface. Its other crypto services, like the Crypto.com Exchange, DeFi Swap and Wallet, Crypto Earn, and Pay, make it a fantastic one-stop shop for all things crypto. Final Thoughts on Nexo, CakeDeFi and Crypto.com Lending Product Nexo, CakeDeFi and Crypto.com have swiftly risen to the position of one of the world's most significant crypto loan platforms. It's impossible for a platform to achieve this level of success without a strong product, platform, and people behind it. As cryptocurrency use continues to rise, lending services are becoming more popular. Users may maximize their financial assets without giving up ownership of them by using these services. Additionally, the APYs, which are far greater than those offered by regular banks, are a major selling point, as are the perks of the crypto card. Don’t forget to share and like the story!

3 Best Crypto Lending Platforms: Alternatives to Celsius and Voyager

Episode 19: An interview with Alex Mashinsky, the CEO and founder of CryptoDisrupted Celsius Network In this episode I interview Alex Mashinsky, founder of Celsius Network, Venture investors, and serial entreperuner. In the interview we discuss Alex’s extensive entrepreneurial background, the 2008 market crash, how the banking system works, and why he’s working on the Celsius Network. Also . available on iTunes For more episodes of , or . Crypto Disrupted subscribe on YouTube subscribe and listen on iTunes

Celsia

celsia.io

-- employees

Since n.d.

COMPANY RANKING

CELSIA

EVERGREEN INDEX #2559

Celsia WIKI

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Celsia

celsia.io

-- employees

Since n.d.

COMPANY RANKING

CELSIA

EVERGREEN INDEX #2559

RELATED COMPANIESRANK

STORIES ABOUT CELSIA

Celsia WIKI

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