Sincere or Not? Celsius Founder Gifts Wife Tokens Worth $20 Million as Birthday Present

The founder of the cryptocurrency asset management platform Celsius, Alex Mashinsky, gifted 15 million CEL tokens to his wife as a birthday present. At today's price, the tokens are valued at nearly $20 million.

A $20 Million Birthday Gift

Twitter user Kevin – HODL discovered on October 25th that the wallet address of Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky had a significant change, with 15 million CEL tokens being moved out. Shortly after, Alex Mashinsky retweeted the post and commented:

"I gifted 15 million tokens to my wife KrissyMashinsky as a birthday present. She has been by my side, supporting me even when I make foolish mistakes. I love you Krissy, without you, there would be no @CelsiusNetwork."

I gave my wife @KrissyMashinsky a very special present of 15,000,000 CEL tokens for her very special birthday. She has been with me through it all and ALWAYS supported me even when I made silly mistakes. I love you Krissy and could not have done @CelsiusNetwork without you. https://t.co/CXdzUBpH9k

— Alex Mashinsky (@Mashinsky) October 25, 2020

At the time of writing, the 15 million CEL tokens were worth approximately $20 million, and even as an observer, one can feel the sentiment behind this birthday gift. However, despite giving away 15 million tokens, Alex Mashinsky still holds the top position in the token holder rankings, with a wallet address containing over 50 million tokens (worth over $66 million), raising concerns in the community about excessive token concentration.

Controversial Platform Yet Stable Growth

Celsius is a centralized lending platform similar to BlockFi and Nexo, where users can earn passive income by depositing their crypto assets. Despite facing controversies over transparency since its launch, Celsius has not encountered negative news such as withdrawal bans or asset losses. Recently, the platform even established a partnership with the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex, offering Bitfinex platform users a Bitcoin-based product with an annualized 6.2% passive income.

Furthermore, according to Coingecko's data, the recent price performance of the CEL token has been impressive, hitting a record high of $1.38 on October 10th. Since the beginning of this year, the CEL token has surged by 880% to the current price of $1.33.