By Daniel Shvartsman
Investing.com -- Celsius plunged in late Sunday (ET) trading in a move that both reflected and amplified the tremors running through the crypto-currency ecosystem.
Citing "extreme market conditions", Celsius paused all withdrawals from its network. The main CEL/USD coin dropped as much as 45% on Sunday, continuing a long-tailed slump since the start of the year. It trades at $.195 as of 11:30pm ET (3:30 GMT), vs. $4.45 at the start of the year.
That impact is being felt across crypto, with Bitcoin trading down to $25,154, down nearly 9%, and Ethereum is down 7.5% to $1342.
The crypto-currency sector has faced headwinds from the recent Terra Luna blow-up as well as a general risk-off climate amidst rising inflation and central bank hawkishness. Similar to Terra Luna, the Celsius coin was part of a network that entailed several classic finance functions, such as loaning out crypto assets and earning interest on crypto assets.
Celsius boasts having over one million users and being a larger holder of Bitcoin than MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) and Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) and last raised money at a $3.5B valuation last fall.