Celsius Network unfreezes Ether stakes to break the ice

• Celsius kickstarted the process to unstake its long-staked Ether coins on Lido.
• CEL’s price continues to plummet as distribution remains unabated. 

According to data from blockchain explorer for the Ethereum network Etherscan, bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network [CEL] has commenced the withdrawal of staked Ether coins [ETH] from Lido Finance. This was following the implementation of a V2 upgrade by Lido allowing for the removal of long-staked ETH coins. 

Celsius’ withdrawal requests for over 200,000 staked ether (stETH) tokens from the liquid staking platform remained pending at the time of writing.

These withdrawal requests came after the bankrupt lender successfully initiated the removal of over 428,000 stETH tokens worth $778.97 million on 15 May. 

The withdrawals of previously inaccessible assets by the crypto lender might be a part of its effort to make whole custody account holders who opted for settlement. 

As earlier reported, on March 21, Celsius obtained approval from the bankruptcy judge overseeing its bankruptcy case for a settlement agreement involving the company, its debtors, the official committee of unsecured creditors, an ad hoc group of custodial account holders, and non-withdrawal custody account holders. 

As per the settlement, custody account holders who participated could reclaim 72.5% of their cryptocurrency holdings.

In return, Celsius Network would be protected from any future claims made by custodial account holders who agree to recover 72.5% of their crypto assets.

CEL refuses to turn up the heat

Following a momentary jump in CEL’s value after the bankruptcy judge gave Celsius its go-ahead concerning the settlement agreement with its customers, the token’s price has since plummeted.

Trading at $0.2215 at press time, the altcoin has experienced a 58% decline in price in the last month, per data from CoinMarketCap. 

With prices trending downwards in the last month, key momentum indicators rested below their respective center lines on a daily chart.

The token’s Relative Strength Index (RSI) and Money Flow Index (MFI) were northbound at 31.48 and 36.09 at the time of writing. This indicated that the token was oversold at press time.

Further, as new demand waned and liquidity flight persisted, the alt’s Chaikin Money Flow (CMF) logged a negative value of -0.18.

Likewise, its On-balance volume (OBV) remained in a downtrend at -79.95 million. When an asset’s OBV is negative, there is more selling pressure than buying pressure in the market.

The token’s Directional Movement Index (DMI) confirmed the strong selling pressure at the time of writing.

CEL’s Negative Directional Index (red) at 25.63 rested solidly above the Positive Directional Index (green) at 12.03. This indicated that CEL sellers outpaced its buyers.