Mashinsky: 'Sharks of Wall Street' Are Targeting Celsius and Other Crypto Projects

Alex Mashinsky, CEO of crypto lending and mortgage platform Celsius, believes that "Wall Street sharks" have smelled blood and are destabilizing multiple crypto projects.

Mashinsky attributes the recent Celsius (CEL) price drop, Tether (USDT) briefly unpegged and Terra (LUNA) crash — at least in part — to short sellers on Wall Street. CEL fell 90% from its all-time high of $8.05 to $0.82.

During a Twitter Spaces event on Tuesday, some Celsius users claimed that the platform liquidated their holdings as CEL fell. Their losses were exacerbated by illiquid trading as prices fell, they said.

Mashinsky said CEL has been affected by the broader cryptocurrency meltdown due to Terra’s debacle, and he believes someone is targeting the company.

"It's not a coincidence. It's someone who made the decision 'You know what? I'm going to destroy Celsius,'" he said at the event.

Cointelegraph reached out to Mashinsky for more details. He explained that there are people on Wall Street who are deliberately profiting by exacerbating the problems of cryptocurrencies.

“They destroyed Luna. They tried targeting Tether, Maker, and many others. Not just us,” he said. "I don't think they have a particular distaste or concern for Celsius. They're all looking for any weakness to short and destroy:"

“The point is, the sharks of Wall Street are swimming in the crypto waters right now.”

Asked whether he was referring to the regulator or the fund that was rumored to be attacking Terra, he clarified that it was “not about regulation.” It's just short sellers looking for weakness. "

Mashinsky also took issue with Barron's article "Celsius Faces a Revolt as a High-Yield Crypto Plummets" about the Spaces event.

"We have 1.8 million customers and Barron's is writing this because two people complained on Twitter that they were liquidated after getting a margin loan," he said.

Celsius allows users to stake cryptocurrencies, which can be used as loan collateral. Of the platform’s earnings, stakers can receive up to 80% of the platform’s revenue. Regulators in various jurisdictions are also eyeing Celsius, forcing the platform to restrict unaccredited investors from earning interest on deposits.

Several CEL investors and stakers expressed their disappointment with CEL’s price performance to Mashinsky during Thursday’s AMA.

One investor accused the Celsius team of standing by while token prices plummeted on Terra's fiasco. Celsius previously denied that it had suffered significant losses as a result, with reports claiming it saved $500 million from Anchor Protocol. The investor said:

“You know what happened with LUN, the token obviously started to drop. Alex and his team didn’t do anything to support the price when it dropped. They basically just let it drop.”

In the AMA, Mashinsky assured community members that Celsius "always acts in the best interest of the community" but that he "does not control the price movement of the CEL token":

"The culprit here has nothing to do with Celsius. It's all about people FUDing and posting bullshit. So if you want to find fault, go to those people and ask 'why are you publishing this article?'"

He also said that people have been hurt by the liquidations that have taken place on the Celsius platform over the past two weeks, but he has personally lost more than anyone else. "I've lost more value than all the other liquidated people combined," he said.

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