The bankrupt crypto lending platform Celsius has moved large amounts of Ethereum to centralized exchanges, amidst expectations of beginning repayments to creditors in liquid crypto by mid-February. On January 26th, several large Ethereum transactions were made from the Celsius Network wallet to deposit wallets for Paxos and Coinbase Prime.
Noteworthy Move by the Celsius Team
The largest transaction made by Celsius involved transferring 443,961 Ethereum, worth $984 million, to another wallet under network control as part of preparation for the transfer. According to blockchain data analytics firm Arkham, a total of 13 transactions occurred within the next hour, moving the large sum to Coinbase and Paxos wallets. Spotonchain commented:
“The majority of the 297,454 Ethereum sent to Coinbase was likely distributed to 12 new wallets as part of an OTC deal.”
Just two days prior, on January 24th, Celsius had moved 575,081 Ethereum using addresses labeled as Celsius Network. Staked ETH and Celsius Network conducted an internal transaction using Eth2 Depositor labeled addresses.
Overall, Celsius stated that since November 13, 2023, Celsius Network has moved 757,626 Ethereum to FalconX, Coinbase, OKX, and Paxos, and currently holds 62,469 Ethereum worth $138.8 million at current prices.
Crypto Distributions to be Made to Creditors
The exact reasons for the recent Ethereum transactions are not yet clear. However, according to an updated Celsius asset distribution process on January 12th, a limited number of institutional accounts will be able to receive cryptocurrency through Coinbase. For non-institutional accounts, distributions to creditors residing in the United States will be made through PayPal, and those outside the US will be handled by Coinbase.
In a statement, a group of Celsius creditors called “Celsius NewCo Community” expressed their expectation that the distribution of crypto assets to firm creditors would begin in mid-February and that the distribution window would remain open for a year.
Meanwhile, a Celsius user named TheHawk officially reported being able to withdraw all Ethereum assets from Celsius and added that the funds are in a custody account. According to Arkham Intelligence, between January 8-12, Celsius transferred an additional $95.5 million to Coinbase and $29.7 million to FalconX. Earlier in the month, the bankrupt lending firm indicated that it began moving assets to provide sufficient liquidity in preparation for any asset distribution.
