Is Celsius CEO Mashinsky Lying About Funds Being Safe? – (In Crypto, No Money is Safe)

The fallout from extreme volatility in the crypto market hasn’t significantly affected Celsius Network, according to its leadership.

Seemingly in response to a now-deleted tweet from Twitter user David Belle that claimed the platform had been “completely wiped out,” Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky posted a message to his more than 172,000 Twitter followers that “all funds [were] safe” and the platform was continuing to do business. Mashinsky acknowledged the “extreme market volatility” currently impacting projects including Terra (LUNA) and stablecoin TerraUSD (UST).

 

Rumblings that Celsius is getting wiped out, if you have funds with them this might be your last chance to make a move before its too late. So far just rumors, but consider this fair warning!

— MGCryptoPulse (@MGCryptopulse) May 11, 2022

 

Notwithstanding the extreme market volatility, Celsius has not experienced any significant losses and all funds are safe.

— Alex Mashinsky (@Mashinsky) May 11, 2022

The LUNA price has fallen more than 93% in the last 24 hours to reach $2.18 at the time of publication following a mass sell-off, with UST having dropped roughly 40% to a price of $0.55. On Tuesday, Terra co-founder Do Kwon hinted at a “recovery plan,” later adding he supported community proposals to increase the project’s minting capacity. However, Mashinsky said that the platform was “not involved in any Luna bailout” in an effort to save the project.

“Our top priority is to ensure that all digital assets on our platform remain safe and secure,” Rod Bolger, chief financial officer at Celsius, told Cointelegraph. “Our front office teams also think and act like risk managers to ensure that we are not exposed in any significant way to market swings. Our liquidity position remains very strong.”

 

The uncertainty around UST’s de-pegging from the U.S. dollar has impacted the price of major cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), both of which have fallen more than 21% in the last week. Major crypto exchange Binance also temporarily suspended withdrawals of LUNA and UST withdrawals on Monday, citing network congestion.