In brief
- Celsius Network announced that anyone with over $1,000 to spare can invest in its equity.
- $5 million worth of equity is up for grabs, and investors have 45 days to acquire it.
- There is $10 million already in the pot for the Celsius fundraise.
Crypto lending company Celsius Network today announced that qualified investors can buy equity in its fundraising round for as little as $1,000. In total, $5 million worth of equity is up for grabs, and investors have 45 days to nab it.
With BnkToTheFuture, a crowd investment platform that comprises 85,000 qualified investors, Celsius is hoping to avoid reliance on traditional venture capital firms and instead seek “community participation,” Celsius wrote in a statement.
“It’s a match made in heaven,” exalted Simon Dixon, the CEO of BnkToTheFuture.
Whether you count as a qualified investor depends on local securities laws, although “the platform is designed to be as inclusive as laws permit,” wrote Celsius in a statement. Even qualified US investors can participate.
You can now buy Bitcoin within Celsius
Celsius Network, a crypto lending service, today announced that customers can buy Bitcoin directly within its mobile app using credit cards. It claims this undercuts competitor fees by 50 percent. “Members can now earn, borrow, buy, and save crypto seamlessly inside the Celsius app without ever paying any fees or being penalized to access your own funds,” said Alex Mashinsky, CEO of Celsius Network, in a statement. No fees, that is, apart from a 3.5% fee to buy crypto using credit cards. Simpl...
In exchange for their money, investors will gain equity in the company, valued at $120 million. Celsius, which launched in 2018, claims to have 100,000 active wallets (an increase of 10% since the end of April), and $630 million in assets under management (down $794 million since the end of April). So far, its platform has been used for a total of $6.2 billion in loans.
The company doesn’t have any transaction fees and claims to return 80% of the money it makes back to depositors. Users can even lend their cryptocurrency at rates of 10% per year! (Volatility permitting).
Why is Celsius relying on crowdsourcing?
Relying on the community is part and parcel of being a crypto company; Celsius has already raised $50 million from 1,500 participants in its 2018 ICO.
“The crypto community is at the core of what we do,” said CEO Alex Mashinsky in a statement. “Every decision we make as a company, big and small, must go through a very simple checklist: does it benefit the community.”
Crypto lender Celsius sees massive growth in Bitcoin deposits
Business is booming for crypto lending service Celsius Network. According to an announcement yesterday, Celsius has seen more than 50,000 Bitcoin deposited through their app since launching in 2018, with 2020 on pace to outperform 2019 by more than 60%. It’s a sign that market uncertainty created by the coronavirus pandemic hasn’t stopped new users from joining the platform, further growing the crypto financial system. Celsius said in release that its growth is the result of all-time high app d...
BnkToTheFuture’s 85,000-strong community have invested almost $850 million in companies, among them Coinbase, Circle, and Bitfinex. Could it become the next Coinbase?
Editor's note: This article was updated to remove Celsius's disclaimer that this investment opportunity is not intended for US investors. Qualified US investors can participate, and Celsius has since removed its disclaimer.
