I Lost $4.7 Billion of Customer Funds – And It Will Always Carry My Name
I built Celsius to unbank people, to give them something better than Wall Street ever offered. I told the world we were safer, that we were building trust, not taking it away. Millions believed, billions flowed in, and for a moment, it felt like we were truly changing finance.
But when the market turned in 2022, everything unraveled. Our risks caught up with us, we leaned too hard on CEL, and the truth is—we failed to protect the very people we promised to serve. In the end, more than $4.7 billion in customer funds disappeared.
The vision was right. The execution failed. And the weight of that failure will always be tied to me.
— Alexander Mashinsky
