Celsius sacks 150 employees as crypto meltdown deepens

As the global crypto market goes through its worst meltdown, top crypto lending platform Celsius Network has sacked at least 150 employees which is around a quarter of its workforce.

"We are focused and working as quickly as we can to stabilise liquidity and operations, in order to be positioned to share more information with the community," the American-Israeli company wrote in a blogpost.

"We are operating with the entire community and all clients in mind as we work through these challenging times," Celsius which raised $750 million in funding late last year, reaching a valuation of $3 billion, added.

Celsius is not the first to downsize their workforce amid a deepening crisis in the crypto market. Last month, crypto exchange Vauld decided to reduce its workforce by 30 per cent. Singapore-based Bybit sacked 2,000 employees while global crypto exchanges and firms including Coinbase, Gemini, Crypto.com and others also cut their workforce.

Last month, Celsius had paused all withdrawals, Swap, and transfers between accounts citing 'extreme market conditions'. The Celsius Network has 1.7 million customers and has $11.8 billion in assets.

The development comes as Bitcoin, Ethereum and other crypto tokens crashed more than 70 per cent from their record highs at the fag end of 2021.

Just recently, cryptocurrency broker Voyager Digital (VYGVF) suspended all trading, deposit withdrawals and loyalty rewards, as top crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) filed for bankruptcy in the US, in which Voyager has made significant investments.

A cryptocurrency lender is not regulated like a bank, so there's no deposit insurance and no legal framework for who gets their money back first, like in a bankruptcy.