Celsius Network told users last week that it was stopping all withdrawals, swaps and transfers between accounts.
photo:
dado ruvic/Reuters
According to people familiar with the matter, crypto lender Celsius Network LLC has hired restructuring lawyers from the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP to advise them on possible solutions to its growing financial problems.
Last week
Told users that it was stopping all withdrawals, swaps and transfers between accounts due to extreme market volatility.
Celsius is first looking at potential financing options from investors, but is also exploring other strategic options, including financial restructuring, said one of the people familiar with the matter.
Celsius gives customer deposits to other users to earn returns. The company managed $11.8 billion in assets as of May 17, according to its website. It offers users an annual percentage yield of up to 18.63% on cryptocurrency deposits. The company said it has 1.7 million users.
A spokesman for Akin Gump did not immediately comment. Celsius officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Lawmakers have recently turned their attention to what might happen if a cryptocurrency platform fails. Last week a bipartisan pair of senators proposed a law To ensure that their digital assets will be kept separate, the goal will be to protect investors in the event a crypto exchange files for bankruptcy.
—Justin Baer contributed to this article.
write to Soma Biswas soma.biswas@wsj.com and Alexander Gladstone alexander.gladstone@wsj.com
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