Beleaguered lending platform Celsius has transferred nearly 25,000 rolled Bitcoin (wBTC), worth $528.9 million, to cryptocurrency exchange FTX, raising concerns from some in the community about whether a dump may follow soon.
The massive transfer to the stock exchange comes after the lending platform Pay off what’s left $41.2 million in debt to Maker (MKR) protocol, fully freeing WBTC’s collateral for its loan.
However, the community is unsure of what to do with the transfer, as some fear that WBTC will soon be offloaded to the exchange, sending bitcoin prices lower.
Others were more hopeful that the move could be in preparation for Celsius to swap encapsulated Bitcoin for BTC, which could be a good sign for depositors who were hoping to eventually reopen Bitcoin withdrawals on the Celsius platform. Bitcoin is up 8% in the past 24 hours to trade above $22,100, indicating that market participants are taking the news their way.
21,962 WBTC has been unlocked from DAI’s remaining loan repayment and has already found its way into FTX…
This didn’t take long…
incoming BTC dollars Foolish? https://t.co/A9B9YaLQ1W#CelShortSqueeze = #CelPumpAndDump
Not your keys, not your encryption pic.twitter.com/V2edblhmXZ
– Airdawg (Colwellinvestor) 7 July 2022
25,000 wBTC Sent to FTX Tracking the news earlier today that there may be 150,000 BTC It was put on the market Mt.Gox creditors get BTC back after waiting eight years.
So far, both Celsius and CEO Alex Mashinsky’s left Silent radio for any movement of money.
Crypto attorney Jonny Perovich, Director of Blockchain & Digital Assets, told Cointelegraph on July 7 that Celsius’ repayment of his loan position with Maker will ultimately help his clients.
Related: Heartbreaking fraud allegations as KeyFi takes a percentage point to court
“The Maker Protocol is based on leveraged loan positions, so repaying a $41 million loan from DAI unlocked 21,962 WBTC of available capital to meet customer withdrawal requests.”
Perovich added that even if Melsius did end up filing for bankruptcy, repaying the loan center and withdrawing collateral could improve the clients’ situation.
The question is, what will Celsius do with the withdrawn guarantees? Keep it as a reserve for clients or risk trading and lending.”
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