Celsius & FTX Shift Millions in Crypto Assets Amid Restructurings

Based on data from Arkham Intelligence, Celsius executed transfers of approximately $125 million worth of Ether to Coinbase and FalconX during the period from January 8 to 12.

Celsius, retaining a substantial portion of its Ethereum holdings, holds over 550,000 ETH valued at around $1.36 billion. In response to restructuring costs and preparations for creditor repayment, Celsius disclosed the unstaking of 206,300 ETH earlier this month. The company intends to distribute Bitcoin and Ethereum to creditors, though a specific date for these distributions remains unspecified.

Despite the unstaking process, Celsius has derived income from its staked Ethereum through staking rewards, constituting 32% of Ethereum awaiting withdrawal, valued at over $466 million at current market rates, according to analytics firm Nansen.

As part of the bankruptcy settlement plan, Celsius has granted qualified users the opportunity to withdraw 72.5% of their crypto holdings, available until February 28. In September of the previous year, a court filing revealed that nearly 58,300 users held custody assets valued at $210 million.

In a separate development, FTX, a bankrupt crypto exchange, along with its defunct trading arm Alameda Research, has initiated transfers of crypto assets to exchanges. Spot On Chain reported a transfer of $28 million in cryptocurrencies, including Wrapped Bitcoin, Ether, and Pendle (PENDLE), to Coinbase and Binance on January 14.

These transfers by FTX and Alameda form part of their strategy to secure funds for creditor repayment after declaring bankruptcy in November 2022. FTX administrators have successfully reclaimed around $7 billion in assets, including $3.4 billion in cryptocurrency.

The market has shown a somewhat optimistic response to FTX creditor claims, with some claims trading as high as $0.50 on the dollar in October 2023, indicating a reasonable chance for creditors to recover their funds. Although a definitive timeline for FTX customer reimbursements is absent, current plans estimate that repayments should commence sometime in 2024.