What is Celsius Network?

The Celsius Network is a centralised finance (CeFi) loan provider and retail savings platform for interest-bearing and -borrowing accounts with a fiat on-ramp. The system is based around its native token, CEL, an Ethereum ERC-20 utility token that allows users to get loans, make payments, and receive rewards.

Celsius Network works with a community-first mandate, returning 80% of its income to customers through increased savings and borrowing profits. Thanks to competitive interest rates, low fees, and a strong community, the platform has seen significant growth since its inception.

The network has over one million registered members and has loaned US$25.2 billion in assets, making it one of the market's best-performing peer-to-peer (P2P) protocols to date. Furthermore, the network has distributed over $929 million in yield rewards.

A brief history of Celsius Network

Alex Mashinsky and Daniel Leon launched Celsius Network in 2017, with the aim of providing a completely community-oriented alternative to conventional financial institutions.

The network began as an Ethereum-based platform but has since incorporated Cardano into it. Through its website and smartphone app, anybody can lend and borrow assets in the form of stablecoins. Celsius Network issued its native coin CEL in March 2018 with an initial supply of 650 million tokens. After successfully collecting US$50 million in its initial coin offering (ICO) on 15 March 2018, Celsius launched its wallet in early 2019. The wallet enables users to deposit coins as security for loans in dollars and lend their crypto to earn interest.

Since its launch, the lending platform has seen considerable growth with the number of active users increasing by about 800% in the first year and at a weekly average growth of 3.06%. By February 2021, Celsius had over 400,000 users and US$9 billion in community deposits. That same year, it managed to raise US$450 million in equity funding from investors, including Canada's second-largest pension fund Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec.

In January 2022, it was reported that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had opened up an inquiry into some of the high-yield crypto lending products offered by the Celsius Network, as well as those by Gemini Trust and Voyager Digital.

Following the collapse of LUNA in May 2022, the value of assets deposited on Celsius’s platform shrivelled to less than US$12 billion, half of what it was in late December 2021. Its CEL token also took a tumble, falling about 97% in the last 12 months, from $7 to around 20 cents. On 13 June 2022, Celsius announced that it was pausing withdrawals, swaps, and transfers between accounts due to market conditions.

How Celsius Network works

Celsius Network is a blockchain-based lending platform. Its mission is to provide “secure financial services while doing what’s best for the community, not middlemen.” In line with this vision, Celsius Network takes a 20% cut of profit margins on interest payments to fund the project’s expansion, while returning 80% of its revenue to network users as rewards.

The system is based around its native token CEL, an ERC-20-compliant currency with interoperability on the Ethereum network. It is used for loans, providing rewards, and making payments.

At launch, only 50% of the tokens were issued, with 25% going to the founding team and the rest locked in a smart contract. This smart contract meant that new loans would be issued only when the CEL token was valued above $1.50 for 10 consecutive days or longer — a feat achieved in 2020.

Users of the platform can borrow crypto or deposit crypto assets to be lent out on the network and earn interest or crypto dividends in return. Interest is paid weekly, and users have the option to withdraw at any time. On top of that, users are not charged whenever they deposit or withdraw funds.

What is Celsius Network used for?

Celsius Network aids in reducing market inaccessibility by taking banks out of the loan equation. This technique eliminates the gatekeepers, meaning that regardless of their credit background, users may obtain cash. Because of this feature, the creators coined the term “unbank yourself”.

CEL functions as the main method of exchange across the Celsius Network. Earnings are calculated and deposited each week based on three factors: interest earned, the individual’s loyalty tier (determined by the percentage of CEL held in their portfolio), and the specific crypto assets stored. Holders of CEL can earn up to 30% more rewards, receive a 25% discount on loans, and earn 6.68% APY.