Celsius moves $781 million in stETH just as Lido withdrawals open

It seems embattled cryptocurrency lender Celsius is wasting no time moving its Ethereum staking tokens from the liquid staking platform Lido, which has just enabled withdrawals.

On May 15, a transaction was identified on Celsius wallets for 428,015 stETH (Lido-staked Ether) to the Lido-staked Ethereum wallet. The colossal stash was worth $781 million at the time of transfer, some of it to believe is preparing for withdrawal.

Data on the chain indicates that Celsius conducts a test withdrawal of 0.1 stETH a few hours later.

According to Bitcoin pioneer and Celsius creditor Simon Dixon, Celsius could “line up to straight off without Lido in the middle.” It could also be a loan for Celsius restructuring plans, he added.

428k #Celsius $stETH on the way – probably in line to turn off directly without #LIDO in the midst. That is the loan collateral being proposed for NewCo. Should get an update this week – May 17 – during the court hearing – no need for court approval, it seems

— Simon Dixon (@SimonDixonTwitt) May 15, 2023

Blockchain intelligence firm Arkham Intelligence highlighted that Celsius transferred 40,928 ETH to a smart contract called “Figment ETH2 Beacon Depositor 1” last week. This was then moved to the Ethereum Beacon Chain deposit contract on May 12, according to Etherscan.

Related: Celsius creditors demand transparency about ‘suspicious’ FTX transactions

Lido, which charges a 10% stake commission, enabled withdrawals on May 15 with a protocol upgrade to V2.

“Lido V2 introduces two major components, with the most user-centric aspect being the inclusion of Ethereum. This allows Ethereum stakers with Lido to undo ETH directly through the protocol.

Lido currently accounts for 29% of all Ethereum staked, or 6.27 million ETH worth about $11.3 billion.

Meanwhile, there are currently 54,046 ETH in the withdrawal queue and this does not yet include the Celsius supply, according to on-chain analytics company Nansen.

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