How Celsius Founder Lost Millions In Crypto By Taking Over Trading Strategy
16 Août 2022 - 05:48PM
NEWSBTC
A new report from the Financial Times has shed more light on the
downfall of the crypto lending company Celsius Network. Founded by
Alex Mashinsky, the company has been affected by the downside trend
in the sector and was forced to halt all operations, negatively
impacting their clients, and filed for bankruptcy. Related Reading:
Shiba Inu Trends Upwards Through Strong Whale Accumulations The
report claims that Mashinsky took over the company’s trading
strategy back in January 2022. At that time, the price of Bitcoin
was hovering around $35,000 to $40,000, and the crypto market was
coming out of a major downtrend to find support at these levels.
The crypto market went on to trade sideways for over a month, and
to move inside a tight range with Bitcoin bottoming at the mid area
around $30,000. Aware of the company’s financial situation, and
looking to make up for its losses, according to the report,
Mashinsky was ready to make a significant bet on the price of
Bitcoin. In January, the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) was about to
announce its shift in monetary policy to slow down inflation. The
financial institution hinted at an interest rate hike regime with a
decrease on their balance sheet. Mashinsky was betting on the
crypto market trending lower on the back of these announcements.
Therefore, he sold “hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of
bitcoin” expecting to buy it back at a discount, but the market
moved in the opposite direction. According to the Financial Times,
Celsius was forced to purchase their crypto holdings at a loss when
BTC and other assets rallied. The sector eventually saw significant
losses, but Mashinsky and his team made wrong assumptions about the
timing of the crypto crash, the report claims to cite multiple
people familiar with the matter: He was ordering the traders to
massively trade the book off of bad information. He was slugging
around huge chunks of bitcoin. Celsius Lost Billions In Crypto By
Trading These Products Mashinksy’s involvement in his trading
department caused conflict among the staff, the Financial Times
said. The company’s former Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Frank van
Etten questioned Mashinsky’s trade and his participation in making
investments decision. The executive left the company in February
2022, most likely due to his clashes with Mashinsky. The Financial
Times claims that there was a span of two days between Celsius
selling their Bitcoin and buying it again at a loss. If the company
have waited longer, they could have profited from the crash in the
crypto market, but as another person familiar with the matter said,
Celsius was trading based on conjectures: It was not an irrational
thought. There was a lot of speculation (…). Celsius was already
dragging losses from 2021, the report said. By September 2021,
Celsius was holding over 11 million shares or $400 million in the
Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). The investment product was trading
at a premium compared to BTC’s spot price. This trend inverted and
the GBTC began trading at a discount from Bitcoin. Mashinsky was
offered a deal to mitigate their losses but passed on it, expecting
the GBTC to reclaim its premium. The company’s losses were
exacerbated by this decision and amount to over $100 million.
Related Reading: XRP Sluggish At Resistance – Will It Break Out
After 2 Months Of Vertigo? At the time of writing, the price of
Bitcoin (BTC) trades at $23,800 with sideways movement over the
past week.
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