Crypto Biz: Crypto carnage pushes Celsius, Three Arrows Capital closer to insolvency, June 9-16
The 2022 version of crypto winter has been unlike anything we’ve seen before. As I warned last month, the meltdown of the Terra ecosystem didn’t end with Luna Classic (LUNC) hitting zero. The biggest threat was contagion. As the dust began to settle, we finally got a glimpse of who was left holding the bag. Crypto lender Celsius and Singapore-based venture firm Three Arrows Capital suffered heavy losses during the debacle. These firms, once a staple of the budding crypto industry, now risk demise following weeks of massive selloffs in the market.
Alex Mashinsky’s Celsius dominated headlines this week after the popular crypto lender paused withdrawals due to “extreme market conditions.” During the freeze, the firm unstaked roughly $247 million in wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC) from Aave and sent it to the FTX derivatives exchange, along with $74.5 million worth of Ether (ETH). It didn’t take long for rumors of Celsius’ insolvency to proliferate. In response, Celsius has reportedly onboarded attorneys to advise on a restructuring plan. Digital asset lender Nexo has tabled a buy-out proposal to Mashinsky’s team, which has until June 20 to respond.
From one debacle to another, crypto investors have spent the past few days fixated on Three Arrows Capital (3AC), one of the industry’s most prolific venture funds. Like Celsius, 3AC is also reportedly facing insolvency after incurring roughly $400 million in liquidations tied to the ongoing collapse of Ether’s price. The company was also a significant investor in Terra and had sizable positions in other tanking altcoins such as Solana (SOL) and Avalanche (AVAX). 3AC’s co-founder Su Zhu issued a cryptic tweet on Tuesday that the company is “fully committed to working this out.” He also
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