Celsius Network
Celsius Network was a Bitcoin company in the Lending category, founded in 2017 by Alex Mashinsky.
The Idea
Deposit digital assets and earn yield, while Celsius lends it out. Marketed as the 'safest place for your crypto.'
Early Traction
Mashinsky was a charismatic promoter who held weekly 'AMA' streams with hundreds of thousands of followers, drawing deposits by promising outsized yields, including extra yield on Bitcoin. Celsius grew to $25B in customer assets.
Peak Stats
~$25B in assets under management. Hundreds of thousands of customers.
Status Today
Halted withdrawals on June 12, 2022, trapping ~$4.7B in customer assets. Filed for bankruptcy July 13, 2022. Mashinsky was arrested in 2023, pled guilty to commodities fraud and securities fraud in December 2024, and was sentenced to 12 years in prison in May 2025. He was ordered to forfeit $48.4M. Investigation revealed Celsius was never profitable and secretly used customer deposits to prop up its CEL token price.
Why It Matters
Celsius's collapse, combined with BlockFi and Voyager, wiped out most of the Bitcoin yield sector and accelerated the move toward transparent lending models and brought renewed focus on secure custody.