Canadian Regulators Probing Crypto Lender Celsius Network Alongside US: Report

Canadian regulators are working in tandem with their U.S. counterparts to investigate the impact of New Jersey-based crypto lender Celsius Network’s multibillion-dollar collapse, according to a Financial Post article.

Although Celsius never registered with Canada’s provincial securities regulators, authorities in the country are working with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate the trans-border issue, the Financial Post, a Toronto-based newspaper, reported Tuesday. Regulators have launched investigations across jurisdictions in the U.S. and Canada to look into the insolvent lender’s post-crash actions.

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) is also investigating how Celsius' collapse and subsequent bankruptcy has affected the platform’s Canadian users. In Quebec, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) is investigating the ramifications of Celsius’ mid-June effort to freeze withdrawals.

The SEC didn't immediately respond to a request for comment, and the OSC wasn't immediately available for comment.

Celsius Network, a crypto lending platform that once held $28 billion in assets under management, lost 88% of its assets in its mid-June crash, sending shock waves through the wider crypto world and prompting dozens of other crypto exchanges to freeze customer withdrawals.

The firm filed for bankruptcy protection in July. It has told the court it owes its users about $4.7 billion. Among the long list of investors who have lost their funds in the collapse is the Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec, Quebec’s largest pension manager, which invested $150 million in Celsius last fall.