At the start of the year, Celsius Network CEO Alex Mashinsky “takes control” of the crypto lending platform’s trading strategy and is facing friction within the team. This is reported by the Financial Times, citing knowledgeable sources.

Decisions made by Mashinsky on the eve of the January meeting fed It cost “millions of dollars”. He was confident that the digital asset market expected further price drops.

At its first meeting in 2022, the Fed signaled a rate hike, but delayed it until March. After the decision, the bitcoin price rose significantly and the cryptocurrency market plunged to new lows only in May with the collapse of Terra.

Mashinsky personally oversaw individual transactions and overruled the decisions of executives with many years of experience in finance. On this basis, the CEO clashed with chief investment strategist Frank van Etten, who left the company in February.

The team reported “mass trading with inaccurate information.” Especially when the CEO orders to sell “the first cryptocurrency worth hundreds of millions of dollars” without examining the size of the long position. The next day, the loss of the resulting short bite led to its fixation.

The publication also provides data on the blocking of the Mashinskiy 11 million sale. GBTCto whom discount NAV While reaching 15%, the firm bought them at a premium. The value of the shares of the Bitcoin trust was then estimated at $400 million. In April, the CEO agreed to get rid of the asset when the discount rose to 25%. Losses in this operation ranged from $100 million to $125 million.

Celsius Network then sought to mitigate losses by borrowing from other crypto companies backed by the tokens it holds as collateral against stablecoin loans. This has increased the platform’s exposure to fluctuations in the prices of crypto assets.

According to the latest estimate, from August to October Celsius Network could lose $137 million due to investment and restructuring costs into its mining business. The hole in the firm’s balance sheet was $2.85 billion.

Earlier, the platform’s creditors’ committee described the assurances Mashinsky made just days before the clients’ assets were frozen as “empty and false”.

On July 13, Celsius filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New York court.

On July 19, the company submitted a business restructuring plan. It includes the direction of a subsidiary mining company’s profit to compensate for losses of users and payments to creditors. Before that, Celsius Mining SEC application for public offering.

On August 12, it became known that the Celsius Network creditors committee at a bankruptcy court meeting banned the company from selling some of the mined bitcoins.

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