Celsius, the renowned cryptocurrency lending platform, has reportedly transferred a whopping $59 million worth of altcoins to an exchange. This important move has sparked widespread speculation and intrigue, with many wondering if this could be a prelude to a massive conversion to Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).
Celsius continues its sales activity
Celsius Network, a bankrupt cryptocurrency lending platform, has made a significant move into the crypto market. Early Monday, the company transferred a total of $59.4 million in various cryptocurrencies to FalconX, a well-known institutional crypto exchange. The move, which was given the green light by a US bankruptcy court late last month, is speculated to be a strategic move to exchange these altcoins for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).
Blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence has provided data showing that a Celsius-controlled wallet was responsible for sending $13.6 million in Polygon’s MATIC, $10.7 million in Chainlink’s LINK and $7.3 million in AAVE to a FalconX deposit address.
According to a report from Kaiko, a leading crypto analytics firm, this large-scale transfer could potentially put significant selling pressure on the prices of the affected tokens. The reason behind this is a phenomenon known as liquidity deterioration, which occurs when a large volume of a particular asset is sold, reducing its availability and possibly depressing its price due to an oversupply in the market.
A volatility in the Altcoin market is rising
Celsius has received court approval to convert its altcoin assets into the more liquid forms of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), as part of its recovery strategy. Reports indicate that the company has transferred some of its holdings to Wintermute, a market maker, and Paxos, a stablecoin issuer.
Since Celsius went bankrupt about a year ago, most of his altcoin holdings have steadily declined. Despite a surge in Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Litecoin (LTC) in June triggered by the launch of institutional exchange EDX, the rest of the Celsius portfolio has experienced a decline of 80% to 5% over the past year.
Earlier on Monday, Celsius made another series of trades, transferring another $8.5 million in Chainlink’s LINK, $7.8 million in Synthetix’s SNX, and $3 million in Binance’s BNB token. The company also moved more than a million dollars into ZRX, 1INCH and Tether’s gold-pegged stablecoin, XAUT.Celsius to convert its collection of smaller tokens, worth about $170 million, into Bitcoin and Ethereum, the two largest cryptocurrencies to date. Market capitalization.
Adding to the company’s challenges, former CEO, Alex Mashinsky, found himself in legal hot water. On Thursday, he was formally charged with fraud by the Department of Justice (DOJ).