Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius moves $75M Ether to staking service Figment.

This move is one of the biggest fund transfers for Celsius Network since it sought bankruptcy protection in July.

Celsius ETH staking with Figment – source (Arkham Intelligence)

Celsius Network, a troubled cryptocurrency lender, used Figment, a professional staking service, to stake approximately $75 million worth of ether (ETH) last week, according to blockchain data.

Based on information from crypto intelligence firm Arkham Intelligence, Celsius Network transferred around 40,928 ETH to a crypto wallet over a series of fourteen transactions from May 10 to May 12. The recipient of the funds is Figment, who then deposited the funds into staking contracts, as confirmed by the Ethereum blockchain explorer Etherscan.

This transfer is among the largest fund movements for the crypto lender since it sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July.

Celsius was one of the crypto companies that faced financial difficulties following the collapse of the blockchain project Terra and the subsequent downturn of the crypto markets a year ago. As a result, the company had to halt user withdrawals. As part of the restructuring process, the bankruptcy court is organizing an auction to sell the company and its assets to potential investors, which include digital asset investment firm NovaWulf and private equity powerhouse Apollo Global Management.

By depositing funds into a staking service, Celsius can earn rewards on its digital asset holdings while undergoing restructuring. Figment, the chosen staking service, offers an average annualized staking reward of 5.6% according to its website.

Celsius’ decision to use a staking service for ETH comes as a surprise since it already operates one of the largest ETH staking pools, managing around $290 million in assets.

Tom Wan, an analyst at 21Shares, a digital asset investment product firm, mentioned in a note that the intriguing aspect is that Celsius opted to stake with Figment instead of their own staking pool.

According to blockchain data from Arkham, the most recent deposit into Celsius’ own staking pool took place in April of the previous year, which was before the freeze on withdrawals and the bankruptcy filing. Additionally, Celsius holds approximately $750 million worth of stETH, a liquid staking derivative token from Lido Finance, which enables them to earn rewards.

This information is for general knowledge only and should not be considered as advice for investing or making financial decisions.