Thread by @otisa502

1/19 On May 9, 2022, Mr. Perman described Celsius as a “sinking ship.” Several days later, on May 15, 2022, Mr. Perman commented that “there is no hope” and “there is no plan.” The next day, he stated his belief that Celsius’s “[business] model is

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2/19 fundamentally broken,” and on May26, 2022, commented “ive [sic] seen a lot – what I’ve seen here is incompetence at the highest levels.” Despite this, following the collapse of Terra/Luna on May 11, 2022, both Celsius and

3/19 Mr. Mashinsky posted to Twitter: “As part of our responsibility to serve our community, @CelsiusNetwork implemented and abides by robust risk management frameworks to ensure the safety and security of assets on our platform. All user funds are safe.

4/19 We continue to be open for business as usual." That same day, Mr. Mashinsky posted to Twitter, “Notwithstanding the extreme market volatility, Celsius has not experienced any significant losses and all funds are safe.” Cointelegraph and the

5/19 Financial Times quoted this Tweet in the following days. On May 11, 2022, Cointelegraph also quoted Mr. Bolger as stating that, “Our top priority is to ensure that all digital assets on our platform remain safe and secure . . . Our front office teams also

6/19 think and act like risk managers to ensure that we are not exposed in any significant way to market swings. Our liquidity position remains very strong.” At the beginning of the May 13, 2022 AMA, Mr. Mashinsky said, Celsius is stronger than ever.

7/19 We have billions of dollars in liquidity. Anyone who needed to withdraw their funds, got their funds back. Anyone who wanted to come in and earn or take a loan or anything else got served. We’re open for business and we continue to do what Celsius

8/19 does best: serve the community, protect the community, make sure your assets are there when you need them. Celsius followed the May 13, 2022 AMA with a video post titled “Market Update from Alex Mashinsky” in which Mr. Mashinsky noted that Celsius

9/19 had been working all weekend to make sure everyone got their withdrawals, loans, and swaps. Mr. Mashinsky encouraged new CeFi customers, adding that “over 90% of people in the world cannot manage their own keys.” He concluded by

10/19 thanking the Celsius community, “the best community in crypto and we’re going to get through this together. We unite, we win. We divide, we fall.” For some Celsius customers, the May 16, 2022 video only raised more questions.

11/19 Customers asked: “Why did Celsius suspend swaps (Luna/UST) when the Community needed them the most?;” “Why are withdrawals taking hours?;” “Why was I liquidated when your customer service said my margin call would be extended?” “You

12/19 always said you do whatever it takes not to liquidate Celsians.” “What happens to my invested assets should Celsius go bankrupt?” Celsius continued to try to attract additional deposits during this period using promo codes and representations about Celsius’s liquidity.

13/19 The May 17, 2022 Executive Committee materials included a continued focus on growth, asking “What are we doing to attract and grow users?” On May 19, 2022, Celsius added a stablecoin promo code applicable to a minimum of $2,500 of

14/19 USDC, USDT, BUSD, GUSD, or USDP, offering $50 of BTC as a reward, vesting after a 180-day lockup. During the May20, 2022 Market Update, Mr. Mashinsky claimed that “no one is leaving crypto” and that while there were significant withdrawals

15/19 of crypto assets “with Celsius, there’s enough liquidity.” On May 23, 2022, Celsius sent a blast email to its customers promoting that its platform now supported five new coins. The blast email also advertised the May 19 stablecoin promotion. The

16/19 promo codes were updated again on May 30, 2022, offering $50 of ETH as a reward for a minimum deposit of at least $2,500 of ETH. Similarly, Celsius publicly encouraged its users to increase referrals “to entice . . . or convince others to be part of this.”

17/19 The May 27, 2022 AMA featured a promotional video regarding referral codes that stated, “Did you know you can earn crypto by referring a friend? You’ll get $50 in crypto for each completed referral. Your friend will get a $50 referral reward too.”

18/19 On May 29, 2022, Mr. Mashinsky offered to personally pay $1,000 to a new user that week, posting to Twitter, “These are hard times for many I will personally give one of the new @CelsiusNetwork users $1,000 this week if you show you opened

19/19 an account and started #HODLing to build your #FiancialFreedom [sic]. All you need to do is be a new user, follow me and Celsius and post your referral code.”