Are custodied crypto funds at risk? Industry veterans explain

2022.06.29 12:56

Are custodied crypto funds at risk? Industry veterans explain

With rumors of insolvency flying high among crypto firms such as Celsius and Three Arrows Capital, investors couldn’t help but ask a simple question: What happened to all the funds that were supposedly under “safe custody?” As it turns out, a small fraction of crypto firms began leveraged trading with customers’ deposits to deliver promised high APY returns on supposedly fixed-income instruments. Things worked out well when the market was thought to have endless potential.

However, as token prices plunged, such firms simultaneously suffered heavy losses on their positions and an increase in withdrawal requests as investors rushed to protect their capital. The combination of selling pressures led to lower coin prices and the likely obliteration of investors’ initial principal as firms allegedly became insolvent.