Celsius, a cryptocurrency lending platform, is a riskier platform

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, the platform Celsius CEL was riskier for users than traditional banks.

The lending platform has been facing a number of issues over the past month, including freezing withdrawals and investigating investigations from multiple US states.

According to the documents seen by the WSJ, Celsius had issued large loans that were backed by very little collateral, and it did not have a safety net in case the market started to go downward.

The company made investments that would be hard to unwind in the event consumers rushed to withdraw their funds, according to the WSJ.

Before it acquired more capital, Celsius had accumulated assets worth over $19 billion and accumulated $1 billion in equity as of the summer of 2017. The firm has an asset-to- equity ratio of 19: 1, which is more than double the average assets-to- ratio for all North American banks, which sits at 9: 1, according to data from FactSet.

The ratio is high for a company like Celsius because of some of its assets in the form of highly volatile cryptocurrencies. This is in contrast to traditional banks that hold assets in more stable sectors and have access to loans from central banks.

In 2021, Celsius raised $750 million from investors to grow its lending ecosystem. The platform was popular with investors because of its high-interest rates, with users earning up to 18.6% annually for depositing their coins on the platform and 7.1% for stable coins, which is much higher than the average interest rate for savings accounts, which sit at around 0.1%.

During this year, the company has had some significant challenges. Users reported difficulty attempting to withdraw funds earlier this month. There were also rumors of Celsius's CEO trying to escape the US.