One of the world’s leading crypto lending platforms, Celsius, has paused all transactions and withdrawals across its network, locking away roughly $12 billion in user assets as cryptocurrencies suffered a broad crash over the weekend.
“Due to extreme market conditions, today 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,” Celsius said Sunday, in a statement on its website.
The ban came as leading cryptocurrencies Bitcoin and Ether dropped 14% and 25%, respectively, since Friday, and $167 billion evaporated from the entire industry’s market cap. Celsius’s own coin, CEL, plummeted 20% in value on Friday and dropped 67% over the weekend to roughly $0.20.
