Celsius To Unstake $470 Million Ethereum To Reimburse Creditors In Move That May Boost The ETH Price

On Jan 5, 2024

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Troubled crypto lender Celsius will unstake its existing Ethereum holdings ahead of a planned asset distribution to creditors that may be a boost for struggling ETH.

The lending firm, which gained court approval to switch to a Bitcoin miner, said the existing Ether holdings “have provided valuable staking rewards income to the estate.”

In preparation of any asset distributions, Celsius has started the process of recalling and rebalancing assets to ensure ample liquidity
— Celsius (@CelsiusNetwork) January 4, 2024

The lender said it used staking rewards to meet the costs incurred during the reorganization plan. It plans to use the unlocked Ether “to ensure timely distributions to creditors.”

Data from Nansen shows that Celsius currently accounts for over a third of all Ether awaiting withdrawal.

An X post by PeckShield shows Celsius moved more than 10,000 ETH, valued at $23.5 million, to Coinbase and FalconX in the last 24 hours.

#PeckShieldAlert #Celsius labeled address transferred ~10.8K $ETH (worth ~$23.5M) to #Coinbase and #FalconX ~10 hours ago pic.twitter.com/GRup7tYWhP
— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) December 20, 2023

Impact on Ether Price

Some analysts believe the unstaking event will ease selling pressure on Ether and set the token up for long-term gains.

I don’t think you guys understand how much weight will be lifted off $ETH when Celsius vampires finally fuck off into oblivion and redist what’s left
Held more than $800M $ETH, were one of the biggest stakers and been consistently selling $20M/week on the market for months https://t.co/ypnzY2nOAg
— Wazz (@WazzCrypto) January 4, 2024

Ether has underperformed competitors recently. Its price has remained flat over the past month, while rival Solana has gained 56%.