Two major cryptocurrency companies are at risk of bankruptcy. What to expect from the situation?
Remember the collapse of Terra almost a month ago? That may have been just the beginning, because now two of the crypto industry’s big whales may also be going under. The first of these is stacking platform Celsius, which has been in danger of defaulting on its obligations to customers due to the platform’s poor liquidity amid a precipitous drop in the price of Etherium. The second “lucky” one is major crypto fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC), which lost a huge amount in the crisis with the aforementioned Terra project. We tell you more about the situation.
Note that conditions in the cryptocurrency market are really not conducive to companies and successful funds right now. In particular, Bitcoin fell below $19,000 today, while Etherium collapsed below the psychologically important $1,000 level.
Crucially, Bitcoin has fallen below the high of the previous bull run for the first time in its history. That is, we are talking about the $20,000 mark, which was taken on December 17, 2017.
To illustrate the situation on the market in a single screenshot.
Given what’s happening, it’s no surprise that cryptocurrency companies are on the cusp of death.
How cryptocurrencies go bankrupt
Large Canadian pension fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and US company WestCap Group last year participated in a $750 million Series B financing of platform Celsius. The valuation of the platform then climbed to $3.5 billion. However, none of these institutional investors are yet in a hurry to provide additional funds to rescue Celsius. In other words, financial support for the platform is still out of the question, because the current market conditions are not conducive to that, to put it mildly.
This fact was commented in an exclusive interview by an insider close to the “inner kitchen” of the aforementioned companies. According to him, “few investors are willing to take such a step”, meaning for them the risks of another round of support for Celsius are higher than the potential benefits from it.
According to Decrypt’s sources, the platform’s position is not yet completely hopeless. Some market players expect Celsius to be acquired by another third-party company altogether. An offer to buy the platform’s assets has already been made by a competitor called Nexo, although whether the deal will go through is still unclear. However, Nexo or Celsius representatives have not yet commented on it.
Another option is to restructure the business. The Celsius team has already started working on it, as experts in the field have joined the Celsius team relatively recently. Recall that a few days ago, Celsius issued a warning to suspend withdrawals, swaps and transfers between accounts, citing “extreme market conditions”.
.@CelsiusNetwork is pausing all withdrawals, swaps, and transfers between accounts. Acting in the interest of our community is our top priority. Our operations continue and we will continue to share information with the community. More here: https://t.co/CvjORUICs2
– Celsius (@CelsiusNetwork) June 13, 2022
Read also: Experts explain how a bearish trend could help the cryptocurrency market.
Crypto fund Three Arrows Capital is going through similar troubles. Co-founder Carl Davies recently said that their team is “working their way out of a difficult situation and looking for the right solution to the crisis”. Here’s his rejoinder.
We have always believed in crypto and will continue to do so.
The 3AC fund was founded back in 2012 by Soo Joo and Davis, and over the years it has become a major player in the crypto investment space. The fund had a $200 million investment in the Terra project, which recently almost completely depreciated. Consequently, 3AC lost all of its money on that investment. Davis admitted, however, that the crisis surrounding Terra “took them by surprise”.
3AC lost hundreds of millions of dollars in just a few days, and the fund’s balance sheet now hovers on the brink of bankruptcy and total insolvency on its liabilities. This means that in the worst-case scenario, 3AC will have to sell assets and go out of business. The sales would probably have a negative impact on Bitcoin as well as the huge basket of altcoins the fund holds on its balance sheet.
As we can see, a so-called “perfect storm” for a bearish trend has now emerged in the crypto market. The challenging macroeconomic environment has come together with several major collapses in the coin industry itself and the realisation that even the best investors could be left with nothing in the blink of an eye. All of this is noticeably discouraging new investors, resulting in a very negative outcome – a prolonged period of slow decline in crypto without significant volatility.
We believe that the impact of a possible collapse of these companies will still be felt throughout the digital asset industry. Still, in the worst-case scenario, they would have to sell off their own crypto holdings - and that would trigger another wave of collapses given the strong seller pressure. The only thing left to do here is to hope that other companies will agree to bail out the giants and pay off their debts.
However, it will come to an end sooner or later. To make sure you don’t miss out on another ace, join our millionaire cryptocurrency chat room.