key takeaways
- Celsius-linked accounts moved 40,928 ETH to staking contracts on the Figment platform from May 10-12.
- This 41,000 ETH staked is in addition to the $300,000 in ETH currently staked by Celsius.
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Celsius Network, a Defunct Crypto Lending Platform, Transferred 40,928 ETH, or $70 million, to the Figment betting service last week, according to the data of crypto intelligence company Arkham Intelligence.
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Over the past week, wallets labeled Celsius Network have come back online, depositing millions of dollars worth of ETH into ETH2 staking contracts with Figment.
In total, Celsius has sent 30.8K ETH to be deposited, worth $56.98M! pic.twitter.com/J7Ja44C65k
—Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) May 15, 2023
The transfer was distributed in 14 transactions between May 10 and 12 and was placed in participation contracts owned by Figment, according to etherscan. It is considered the largest movement of funds for Celsius since it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July 2022.
Tom Wan, Research Analyst at 21co, the parent company of 21shares, further confirmed:
.@CelsiusNetwork has bet 40.9k $ETH through @figment_io from May 10 to May 12
ask for @etheraltog for the great find 🫡 https://t.co/TfPtLWdLbh pic.twitter.com/stb3kdqEut
—Tom Wan (@tomwanhh) May 15, 2023
Pale noted that this was Celsius’s first move to Figment in a year, stating that Celsius could have used his own stake pool for the 40,000 Ether.
Staking is a process of locking crypto, such as Ether, for a set period of time to earn rewards for validating transactions and creating blocks on the network.
While Figment offers everything 5.6% of annualized staking rewards, according to your website, Celsius has an Ether wallet staked and even he retired some of his funds in April 2023. Celsius has almost $300k worth of ETH staked as of this writing, according to the dune Analytics.
Celsius legal battles
The embattled crypto lender filed for bankruptcy on July 14, 2022 and has been exploring restructuring plans and recovery amid reports that Celsius operated in the form of a Ponzi scheme. Meanwhile, former CEO Alex Mashinsky has been in legal trouble.
In January 2023, Mashinsky was sued by the New York Attorney General Letitia James, the judge featured by suing Tether and Bitfinex: for defrauding investors. In February 2023, Mashinsky was again sued by creditorswho claimed that the executives were paid before the platform crashed.
While it is too early to say what Celsius plans to do with the results of ETH staked both inside and outside of Figment, the Southern District of New York approved a restructuring plan that allows around 85% of clients to receive 72.5% of their cryptocurrencies from Celsius.
