• Celsius transfers over $772m of stETH from Lido to its own wallet.
• The move follows the introduction of withdrawal capabilities on the liquid staking platform Lido.
• Speculation suggests that this transfer may indicate preparations for future withdrawals or serve as loan collateral for Celsius’ restructuring plans.

Celsius Transfers $772M in stETH

Celsius, a crypto lender, has swiftly moved its Ethereum (ETH) staking tokens from the liquid staking platform Lido following the platform’s recent introduction of withdrawal capabilities. A significant amount of 428,015 stETH (Lido staked Ether) was transferred to a Celsius wallet with an approximate value of $772 million.

Speculations About Future Withdrawals

On-chain data analysis reveals that Celsius conducted a test withdrawal of 0.1 stETH a few hours later, further fueling speculations about preparations for independent staking without Lido’s involvement, or use as loan collateral in Celsius‘ restructuring plans.

Lido’s Introduction Of Withdrawal Capabilities

Liquid Staking Platform Lido recently introduced withdrawal capabilities with protocol upgrade V2, which allows Ethereum stakers to directly unstake ETH through the protocol providing a more user-friendly experience and charges 10% commission fee on all transactions.

Amount Of Staked Ether On LIDO

Currently, Lido commands 29% of all staked Ether, accounting for 6.27 million ETH with an approximate value of $11.3 billion and 54,046 Ethereum addresses are actively participating on the platform.

Conclusion

The transfer by Celsius indicates that it is exploring options for independent staking without LIDO’s involvement or possible use as loan collateral in upcoming restructuring plans and users can now withdraw their funds directly using the upgraded V2 protocol by paying 10% commission fees on each transaction they make on the platform .