More Pain Ahead For Ethereum? Celsius Crashes 55% As It Halts Withdrawals Over 'Extreme Market Conditions'

Cryptocurrency lending firm Celsius CEL/USD says it is pausing all withdrawals, swaps and transfers between accounts.

What Happened: Celsius said in a statement late Sunday it is taking the steps “due to extreme market conditions.”

“We are announcing that Celsius is pausing all withdrawals, Swap, and transfers between accounts. We are taking this action today to put Celsius in a better position to honor, over time, its withdrawal obligations,” the firm said.

Celsius said while it understands the news is “difficult” it believes it is the best decision. It said it was working to “protect and preserve assets” to meet its obligations. 

“Our ultimate objective is stabilizing liquidity and restoring withdrawals, Swap, and transfers between accounts as quickly as possible.”
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Why It Matters: The Block Crypto's Frank Chaparro had earlier tweeted that there were rumors about Celsius’ ability to support withdrawals “swirling around crypto OTC desks.”

Internet entrepreneur Nic Carter tweeted “it’s so over” and shared an email a Twitter user received from Celsius. 

Celsius operates on Ethereum’s ETH/USD network. The CEL token was down 55% to $0.155 at press time and the Ethereum chart suggests the second-largest cryptocurrency's market price reacted to the news.

ETH dropped 8% to $1,351.84 at the time of writing. 

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