This move is seen as preparation for potential withdrawal. The transferred stash was valued at $781 million. Celsius may be considering direct staking or collateral for restructuring. This development was marked by a transaction on May 15, which saw 428,015 stETH (Lido staked Ether) being moved from Celsius wallets to the Lido staked Ethereum wallet. The total value of this sizable stash amounted to $781 million at the time, leading to speculation that it may be in preparation for withdrawal.
Shortly after the transfer, Celsius conducted a test withdrawal of 0.1 stETH, indicating the possibility of exploring direct staking without relying on Lido as an intermediary. Simon Dixon, a prominent figure in the Bitcoin space and a creditor of Celsius, suggested that the transferred assets could also serve as loan collateral for Celsius' restructuring plans.
Analyzing on-chain data, blockchain intelligence firm Arkham Intelligence uncovered that Celsius had transferred 40,928 ETH to a smart contract named "Figment ETH2 Beacon Depositor 1" the previous week. Subsequently, these funds were moved to the Ethereum Beacon Chain deposit contract on May 12, as verified by Etherscan.
Lido recently implemented an upgrade to its platform, known as version 2 (V2), which introduced a notable feature enabling withdrawals. Through this enhancement, Ethereum stakers using Lido can now directly unstake their ETH via the protocol. Currently, Lido accounts for a significant portion of all staked Ether, holding around 6.27 million ETH valued at approximately $11.3 billion, which represents 29% of the total staked Ether.
Furthermore, according to on-chain analytics firm Nansen, there is an existing queue of 54,046 ETH awaiting withdrawal. It is important to note that this figure does not include the stash of Ethereum held by Celsius, indicating the potential for even greater withdrawal activity in the near future.
In summary, Celsius, the financially distressed crypto lender, has embarked on transferring its substantial holdings of staked Ethereum following the introduction of withdrawal functionality by the Lido platform. This development raises the possibility of Celsius exploring direct staking options or utilizing the transferred assets as collateral for the lender's restructuring plans. Lido's recent upgrade offers Ethereum stakers the convenience of unstaking their ETH directly, while the platform itself retains a significant share of the staked Ether market.
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