Key Takeaways
- As per reports, Celsius recently moved 18,000 ETH tokens from its reserves to Coinbase
- One of the largest transactions involved the transfer of 443,961 ETH, valued at $984 million at the time, to another network-controlled wallet.
- Celsius moved 443,961 ETH to Coinbase Prime, Paxos, FalconX wallets over 13 transactions.
Celsius Network, the bankrupt crypto lender, is in the midst of a substantial sell-off, mainly involving Ethereum (ETH), as it works to repay creditors. The latest move reveals a transfer of over $40 million worth of ETH to Coinbase, a major cryptocurrency exchange.
According to data from Lookonchain, a platform tracking on-chain activities, Celsius recently moved 18,000 ETH tokens from its reserves to Coinbase, representing nearly $40 million considering the current price trend of ETH.
This development comes as Celsius faces expectations from creditors to begin repaying debts in liquid crypto by mid-February. On January 26, several significant ETH transactions from Celsius Network’s wallet to deposit wallets for Paxos and Coinbase Prime were noted.
One of the largest transactions involved the transfer of 443,961 ETH, valued at $984 million at the time, to another network-controlled wallet. Subsequent transactions saw a substantial amount of ETH moved to Coinbase and Paxos wallets, with reports suggesting that a portion sent to Coinbase was distributed across 12 fresh wallets, likely as part of an over-the-counter (OTC) deal.
This move follows Celsius’s earlier transfer of 575,081 ETH on January 24. As part of Celsius’s ETH unstaking program, the institution has deposited a total of $280,760 ETH tokens to Coinbase, FalconX, and OKX exchanges since November 13, 2023, amounting to a massive $621 million worth of Celsius ETH reserves being unstaked.
Celsius presently holds an Ethereum reserve of 540,029 tokens, valued at over $1.2 billion. Recent transactions include a deposit of 13,000 ETH worth $30.34 million to Coinbase and a transfer of 2,200 ETH, equivalent to $5.13 million, to FalconX.
While the precise reasons for these recent ETH transactions remain unclear, a Celsius asset distribution FAQ updated on January 12 suggests that a limited number of corporate accounts may receive cryptocurrency through Coinbase, while non-corporate accounts will see distributions via PayPal for U.S. residents and Coinbase for those outside the U.S.
Celsius has been actively transferring assets to secure ample liquidity, especially in preparation for upcoming asset distributions. The company intends to unstake existing Ether holdings to offset certain costs incurred during its restructuring process and unlock ETH for timely distributions to creditors.
In a related development, last week, Celsius transferred 34.8 million Polygon (MATIC) tokens to Binance, valued at $26 million at the time.
