Embattled crypto lender Celsius, who are staring insolvency in the face due to knock-on effects of the crypto contagion, about which I wrote a deep dive here last month, may be landing a further body blow to the crypto markets.
24,000 wrapped bitcoins, worth half a billion dollars, have been transferred from their account to cryptocurrency exchange FTX, per blockchain data revealed by Nansen below.
Celsius dunking 24k $WBTC (half a billion dollars worth) onto FTX.
— Nansen Intern 🧠(@nansen_intern) July 7, 2022
Nothing to see here. pic.twitter.com/phFcDZXZ7H
Wrapped bitcoin (WBTC) is a tokenised version of Bitcoin, which is compatible on the Ethereum and therefore can be used in a wide array of decentralised finance protocols. This half a billion of wrapped bitcoin indeed comes from of these decentralised platforms – Maker.
Celsius’ Maker Loan
Celsius had pledged the WBTC as collateral against loans. As Bitcoin tanked during the crisis last month, Celsius repeatedly topped up the position in order to avoid being liquidated. Indeed, this is partially what drove fear and panic selling, the thought that Celsius’ loan could have been liquidated and all the supply flooding the market.
That Maker loan is now paid down – wallet address can be found here if you want to take a dive through their history, but the below screenshot shows the collateral in WBTC repeatedly being added on June 11th and 13th (timestamps on the right) as Celsius struggled against the wave of selling.
In all likelihood, this will be sold for more liquid assets, as Celsius continues to flounder in order to survive. Half a billion is a heavy
