While a band of traders vigorously pumped the CEL token of the bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network in a spirited short squeeze, founder and CEO Alex Mashinsky quietly offloaded a portion of his CEL stash — a holding that ballooned in worth despite the company’s ongoing turmoil.
According to blockchain analytics from firms like Nansen and Arkham Intelligence, an address linked to Mashinsky sprang back into activity for the first time since late May, revealing a flurry of transactions.
Inside the Token Moves
On Saturday and Tuesday, this wallet executed several sales, exchanging 17,475 CEL tokens for roughly $28,242 worth of ether (ETH) on the decentralized exchange UniSwap, as tracked by the blockchain explorer Etherscan.
A Twitter user known as alto first brought these movements to light, fueling speculation around the timing and intent of the sales.
Silence from Celsius
Repeated attempts to secure comments from Celsius and Mashinsky via email went unanswered.
Context: Legal Battles and Scrutiny
These token transfers come on the cusp of a pivotal second hearing in a federal bankruptcy court in New York scheduled for next week. Meanwhile, the Unsecured Creditors Committee (UCC), formed to defend the interests of Celsius depositors, is gearing up to investigate Mashinsky alongside other key insiders involved in the firm.
Celsius hit a crisis point in June by halting all withdrawals before filing for bankruptcy protection on July 13. Meanwhile, the CEL token — issued by the lending platform as a utility coin — has drawn regulatory heat from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which alleges it should have been registered as a security.
Quick Fact:
Celsius’ CEL token surged from a mere $0.15 on the day withdrawals were frozen to roughly $2 recently, marking an extraordinary thirteenfold spike propelled largely by a grassroots short squeeze campaign.
Mashinsky’s Stake and Sales History
Mashinsky remains one of the largest individual holders of CEL — second only to the Celsius treasury itself. Long before the company’s financial calamity, Celsius proudly publicized its top CEL holders, with Mashinsky reportedly owning more tokens than the combined total of the next four biggest holders. This was detailed in a comprehensive July report by Arkham, which leveraged blockchain data to scrutinize both Celsius and Mashinsky’s on-chain activities.
The investigation uncovered multiple wallets tied to Mashinsky that frequently offloaded sizable CEL amounts across various decentralized exchanges, cumulating in sales worth approximately $44 million over several years.
At the time of the recent transactions, the specific wallet involved contained around $1.1 million in CEL tokens, alongside holdings of ETH and USDC, according to Nansen’s portfolio tracker.
The CEL Token Surge: A Community-Driven Push
The CEL token’s recent rally stems largely from a fervent community-led short squeeze, which caught many by surprise given Celsius’s ongoing bankruptcy woes.
- Token price before withdrawal freeze: ~$0.15
- Price after short squeeze rally: ~$2.00
- Increase in value: nearly 13x
As the legal saga unfolds and the market buzzes around CEL, these developments illuminate the complex interplay between on-chain activity, regulatory scrutiny, and community-driven market dynamics within crypto’s volatile landscape.