Nexo makes unsolicited offer to acquire Celsius’ assets after it halts withdrawals

Leading crypto lending platform Nexo made an unsolicited offer to acquire “any remaining qualifying” assets of rival Celsius Network after the latter suspended withdrawals due to adverse market conditions.

Nexo is in а solid liquidity and equity position to readily acquire any remaining qualifying assets of Celsius, mainly their collateralized loan portfolio. We are putting together an offer to Celsius to that accord and will communicate it publicly. 5/

— Nexo (@Nexo) June 13, 2022

Nexo said it has sent Celsius a Letter of Intent to acquire Celsius’ collateralized loan portfolio, brand assets, and customer database.

Celsius pauses withdrawals

Celsius Network emailed users a notification June 13 that it is suspending withdrawals, swaps and transfers among accounts due to adverse market conditions. The company said the move is part of its plan to ensure long-term stability and liquidity on the platform.

The announcement caused CEL‘s price to fall 73%, and the token was trading at $0.21 as of press time.

Celsius said rewards will continue to accrue while the suspension is in effect. The platform did not respond to a request for comment on the suspension.

Macroeconomic factors continue taking a toll on crypto

Celsius’ decision to halt withdrawals, swaps, and transfers between accounts comes after a significant rout in the crypto market over the weekend.

Bitcoin (BTC), the largest crypto by capitalization, is down 13.40% in the day to trade at $23,736.23. This price represents a 65% drop from the coin’s November 10 all-time high (ATH) of $68,692.14. The recent selloff has also seen the crypto market’s capitalization plummet below $1 trillion to hit $968.84 billion at the time of writing.

This crash comes after the U.S. Department of Labor released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for the month of May.

Economists had previously predicted the CPI would remain constant at 8.3%. However, the latest CPI release indicated that inflation had jumped to 8.6% — marking the highest level of inflation in the U.S. in four decades.