Celsius repays US$113m of loans as crypto lender fights insolvency

CRYPTO lender Celsius Network repaid more loans Monday (Jul 11), as the company continues to battle insolvency.

In the past day, Celsius repaid about US$78.1 million worth of USDC stablecoin to lending platform Aave, according to tracker Etherscan. It also repaid US$35 million worth of stablecoin DAI on platform Compound.

Amid the recent downturn in cryptocurrency prices, Celsius froze withdrawals in June and more recently started paying off its debts to free up its collateral placed in decentralised-finance applications. Other crypto firms, Voyager Digital and Three Arrows Capital, recently filed for bankruptcy.

Since Jul 1, digital wallets belonging to Celsius paid back more than US$300 million worth of debt to various platforms, including Maker, according to Nansen and Etherscan data.

Celsius still has about US$120 million of debt outstanding on Aave and Compound, according to tracker Zapper. On these decentralised lending platforms, collateral gets liquidated automatically in certain circumstances unless it's repaid.

Celsius's sources of funding to pay back the loans are unclear. The company didn't respond to a request for comment.

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Celsius used to promise people who gave it their digital coins more than 18 per cent in interest on their holdings; Celsius, in turn, lent those coins out.

The distressed lender has provided limited guidance since halting withdrawals on Jun 12. On Jun 30, the company said it's exploring options such as "strategic transactions as well as a restructuring of our liabilities". BLOOMBERG