Celsius CEO plans to pivot to custodial services crypto

Alex Mashinsky, CEO of bankrupt crypto lending firm C, has outlined a plan to move his company's operations from a lending service to a custody service. 

The launch is said to have taken place during an internal meeting of all employees on September 8. An audio recording of the meeting, which is currently circulating on social media, was shared by victim Tiffany Fong. famous C, who obtained the video from an anonymous encrypted source.

According to a report in The New York Times, Mashinsky is looking to make a comeback through "a bold plan to revive the company." 

Mashinsky was joined by fellow C Oren Blonstein. During the meeting, the duo presented their concept of an escrow service to their employees, outlining a new revenue structure in which fees would be charged to clients for using the escrow service. Celsius.

Ironically, the project's codename is Kelvin, another unit of temperature. 

skeptical staff

Mashinsky was met with skepticism by employees who doubted the feasibility of the proposal. One employee can be heard pointing out that charging will reduce the popularity of the platform as it is marketed as a free platform.

Another employee questioned how Mashinsky would regain the trust of his employees and customers.

In an attempt to reassure them, Mashinsky made big comparisons, citing the bankruptcy of famous brands like Pepsi and Delta Airlines, which came back stronger.

Internet users are not enthusiastic about Mashinsky's comparison. One user pointed out that Chapter 11 of Pepsi and Delta was the result of natural market events, unlike Celsius, whose dishonest business conduct resulted in bankruptcy. 

FTC wants to join

Meanwhile, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is seeking court permission to begin bankruptcy proceedings against Celsius. Tuesday's court filings by FTC attorneys Katherine Johnson and Katherine Aizpuru did not clarify the regulator's intent to join the case; however, the FTC requested a copy of all relevant documents in this case.

One possible angle might be to limit the disclosure of confidential consumer information during legal proceedings, since the FTC is, after all, a consumer protection agency.

Celsius filed a similar request earlier this month, in which the lender asked the court to reprocess "certain personally identifiable customer information."

This is not Celsius' first attempt to rename its operations. During his first bankruptcy hearing on July 18, 2022, Celsius described his operation as more like that of a Bitcoin mining company, rather than a cryptocurrency lending company. 

Sep 15, 2022