Celsius Hits Boiling Point

Market Meditations | July 14, 2022

On Tuesday, July 5th, we provided you with a heated update on Celsius, and it seems things are yet to cool down!

  • The saga began in early June when Celsius froze all withdrawals and transfers of its lending services due to fears of insolvency triggered by the broader market downturn.
  • On Wednesday, July 13th, Celsius finally closed all of its on-chain debt owed to decentralised lending apps after repaying nearly $50 million to Compound across two transactions.
  • According to The Block, Celsius has paid off more than $800 million of debt on Aave, MakerDAO and Compound since June 10th.
  • Studying the firm’s on-chain data via EtherScan shows that over the last month, Celsius had been winding down its positions to reclaim large amounts of its collateral staked on lending apps.
  • Furthermore, data shows Celsius has been transferring significant amounts of its collateral assets to centralised exchanges (CEXs), most likely to sell the assets and pay off its debt obligations.


Although the firm’s debt obligations have now been settled, the saga may have been too much for the centralised lending platform. According to CNBC, Celsius has begun informing state regulators that they are preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.