In another sign of decentralized finance’s continued growth, Celsius Network has just announced it now has more than US$20 billion in assets under management – making it one of the largest DeFi platforms in the world.
Fast facts
- These figures came from Celsius’ most recent quarterly internal audit, according to a company press release, which used technology provided by blockchain analysis company Chainalysis — which also independently verified the data. According to the data, Celsius has grown 1,900% in the previous 12 months, increasing its holdings from only US$1 billion in June 2020 to US$20.3 as of August 13.
- Alex Mashinsky, CEO of Celsius, said the company was founded with the goal of bringing 100 million people into crypto, and with over 950,000 users, the company is well on its way: “With that failing model [centralized finance] ripe for disruption, we built Celsius to give consumers what banks never could — a community-oriented platform that provides income and financial independence by offering low-cost lending and high-interest yield on 43 cryptocurrencies.”
- His sentiments mirrored those in an exclusive interview with Forkast.News last month: “When an institutional exchange borrows Bitcoin from us, instead of sec lending, they do digital asset lending and they pay us interest. We could hide it and not tell anybody and take all that money. But instead, we’re giving most of that to our community. So really, Celsius is the real Robin Hood. Celsius is doing what Wall Street will not do for the last 200 years.”
- Despite the continual growth in DeFi exemplified by cases like Celsius, a recent Chainalysis report shows DeFi adoption remains very much in the early stages relative to the wider crypto industry. The Global DeFi Adoption Index found while DeFi adoption has increased significantly in the past 18 months, most of this adoption has occurred in regions with higher incomes and professional investors and traders.
- Among 154 countries surveyed, nations such as the U.S., U.K., the Netherlands and Canada top the list, but others such as China, India, Thailand and Vietnam also show high rates of adoption as well.
- Strong levels of DeFi adoption among some Southeast Asian countries mirror recent reports showing the region has strong levels of general crypto adoption as well. Chainalysis’ 2021 Global Crypto Adoption Index showed Vietnam, India and Pakistan were the top three countries in the world for crypto adoption, and a separate Finder.com report found Vietnam could have crypto adoption rates of as high as 40%.