Key Takeaways
- As per data, Celsius transferred around 40,928 ETH to the smart aggregation contract named Figment ETH2 Beacon Depositor 1 by Etherscan.
- On May 15, a transaction happened on Celsius wallets for 428,015 stETH (Lido staked Ether) to the Lido staked ETH wallet.
Embattled Crypto lender Celsius is currently moving its staked Ethereum to wallets. On May 15, Celsius transferred 428,015 stETH worth $781 million to Lido’s staked Ethereum wallet. Some believe that this move is in preparation for withdrawal. However, on-chain data indicates that Celsius performed a test withdrawal of 0.1 stETH a few hours later.
Weighing in on Celsius’s future plan, Bitcoin pioneer and Celsius creditor Simon Dixon states that Celsius could possibly be “lining up for staking directly without Lido in the middle” or that the move could be loan collateral for Celsius’ restructuring plans.
According to blockchain intelligence firm Arkham Intelligence, Celsius transferred 40,928 ETH last week to a smart contract called “Figment ETH2 Beacon Depositor 1”. This was then moved to the Ethereum Beacon Chain deposit contract on May 12. Depositing to a staking service allows Celsius to earn rewards on its digital asset holdings during its restructuring efforts. Ethereum staking offers an average of 5.6% annualized staking reward, according to Figment’s website.
The move is surprising, given that Celsius also operates one of the largest ETH staking pools with some $290 million of assets under management. The last deposit into the lender’s own staking pool happened in April last year, before the withdrawal freeze and bankruptcy filing. Celsius also holds some $750 million worth of Lido Finance’s liquid staking derivative token stETH, earning rewards.
The cryptocurrency lender filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July after becoming insolvent due to the sudden implosion of blockchain project Terra and the subsequent meltdown of crypto markets a year ago.
Meanwhile, there is 54,046 ETH currently in the withdrawal queue, and this doesn’t include Celsius’ stash yet, according to on-chain analytics firm Nansen. Lido currently accounts for 29% of all staked Ether, which is valued at around $11.3 billion.
Lido recently upgraded its protocol to V2, which allows Ethereum stakers with Lido to directly unstake ETH through the protocol. With the recent withdrawal option, Celsius may be looking to unstake its tokens and liquidate them as part of its restructuring efforts.
