Celsius Crypto Platform Halts All Withdrawals as Bitcoin Tanks Over 13%

When can Celsius users expect to get access to their money? The company seems to have anticipated people will be antsy. And they’re not making any promises about a timeline yet.

“We understand that this news is difficult, but we believe that our decision to pause withdrawals, Swap, and transfers between accounts is the most responsible action we can take to protect our community. We are working with a singular focus: to protect and preserve assets to meet our obligations to customers. Our ultimate objective is stabilizing liquidity and restoring withdrawals, Swap, and transfers between accounts as quickly as possible. There is a lot of work ahead as we consider various options, this process will take time, and there may be delays,” Celsius said.

You catch all that? There may be delays.

For his part, Celsius founder and CEO Alex Mashinsky has been tight-lipped on social media in the past few hours since the pause on withdrawals was announced. But as recently as Saturday night Mashinsky was accusing people who questioned Celsius’s liquidity of spreading “FUD,” an acronym in the crypto world that means “fear, uncertainty, and doubt.”

Mashinsky did not immediately respond to an email from Gizmodo early Monday morning.

Accusing someone of spreading FUD is one of the greatest insults in the crypto enthusiast community, but it doesn’t look like it was FUD being spread at this point. It was old-fashioned, healthy skepticism about cryptocurrencies—a way of making money that seems to work more like a pyramid scheme than a sound financial system.

The temporary shutdown of Celsius isn’t the first major implosion in recent weeks. Terra and its cryptocurrency Luna melted down when its stablecoin went into a death spiral in just a few short days. What did Luna’s founder, Do Kwon, do after losing people millions? He started up a new coin called Luna 2.0.

You almost have to respect the audacity. Almost.