Celsius Network Close to Zeroing Outstanding Debt With $59 Million Aave Payment

Celsius (CEL-USD) doesn't want to commit the bankruptcy trap, as several of its contemporaries have recently done. It has been perilously close to falling over a cliff because of its substantial market obligations. But as of right now, the Celsius network is one step closer to paying off these loans. After making a sizable contribution to the Aave (AAVE-USD) network, it is almost financially independent of the platform. Additionally, it's enabling Celsius to reclaim a substantial stockpile of staked Ethereum (ETH-USD) tokens.

One of the most well-known crypto fund managers and DeFi platforms available is Celsius. Through its trading, lending, and staking platforms, the platform at its height was in charge of managing $20 billion in assets. But it has been falling sharply since the most recent crypto meltdown.

Since the bitcoin market crashed, Celsius has become heavily indebted to other DeFi service providers. The business owes Aave and sister DeFi platform Compound a combined $258 million (COMP-USD). The ecosystem of MakerDAO (MKR-USD) owes another $223 million.

With these obligations close at reach, bankruptcy was a very real prospect for Celsius. Both Three Arrows Capital and Voyager Digital, fellow asset managers, announced their own bankruptcy filings in late June of last year.

This forced the business to use some less-than-ideal asset protection strategies, according to investors. This includes a withdrawal stop that was implemented in order to maintain the liquidity of the network. Although efficient, it infuriated the 500,000 customers who were unable to remove their assets off the blockchain during the market meltdown.

Celsius Network is still able to stay out of bankruptcy.

The Celsius network was able to cobble together the cash necessary last week to settle its $223 million debt to Maker. It got the $450 million it had pledged as collateral in return. The business immediately used the money to deposit a $950 million collateral with Aave and Compound. This week, the business has been actively attempting to get rid of those debts.

This week, Celsius is making progress on its debt to Aave and Compound in addition to bringing on a new legal team to help it escape bankruptcy at all costs. The business paid off $20 million of its debt to Aave yesterday. It is now paying down an additional $81 million. Following the start of this payment, Celsius' total debt to Aave was only $8.5 million. A further $410 million in collateralized staked ETH tokens were also made available.

Between Aave and Compound, Celsius only owes a total of $59 million more in debt. But a setback is unfortunately on the horizon for the business. KeyFi, a DeFi startup, is suing Celsius for allegedly refusing to uphold an agreement between the two.

KeyFi has been using the money from Celsius to make risky, leveraged bets. KeyFi claims Celsius failed to adhere to the agreed-upon proportion of earnings that it was understood the two would share with KeyFi. The business is now suing Celsius in court. It is making strong assertions that Celsius is a Ponzi scheme, which will provide the business with additional challenges in the future.