Tether Invests $10 Million In Cryptocurrency Lending Platform Celsius Network

Key highlights:

• Tether invests $10 million in Celsius Network, bringing the company's valuation to $150 million
• Tether received no voting rights in the deal, according to Celsius Network CEO Alex Mashinsky
• Celsius Network is also raising $15 million through the BnkToTheFuture platform

Tether invests $10 million into Celsius network

Stablecoin issuer Tether has invested $10 million into cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius Network, according to a new report from CoinTelegraph. The deal assumed a $120 million pre-money valuation for Celsius Network, with the company’s valuation moving up to $150 million following the investment.

CoinTelegraph spoke to Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky, who told the publication that Tether will receive no voting rights in exchange for their investment. Mashinsky said he remains the company’s largest shareholder, ensuring that the company will stick with its promise of sharing 80% of the platform’s profits with the Celsius community:

“So I'm still the largest shareholder and then we have control of the company. Very important for us so the investors are not going to change — we give 80% back to the community. So I wanted to make sure that no one comes in and says ‘Hey, you're making a profit so why don’t take it yourself or why don’t pay the dividends?”

Celsius Network continues to raise capital

The $10 million investment from Tether comes after Celsius Network raised $50 million in a 2018 ICO. Earlier in June, Celsius Network also announced that it is looking to raise $15 million through the BnkToTheFuture platform. So far, around $12 million has been contributed by 227 investors on Celsius Network’s BnkToTheFuture offering.

Celsius already supports two products created by Tether – the platform features Tether’s flagship dollar-pegged stablecoin Tether USD (USDT), as well as the gold-backed Tether Gold (XAUT). 

Celsius recently announced that its platform has received over $1 billion total in deposits since its 2018 launch. In its announcement, the company said it has paid around $17 million in interest rewards to users so far.

Celsius Network’s CEL token has been rallying this week, and the news of Tether’s investment likely contributed to the positive momentum. CEL is up by 10.5% in the last 24 hours, and is also posting a truly impressive +42% 7-day change.