Unusual and mysterious crypto movements from Celsius’ main DeFi wallet began moving liquidity at 18:00 ET on June 12. The liquidity was moved to FTX as it removed WBTC from its main AAVE staking and lending platform. Celsius had earned interest on its deposits, mainly stored in its DeFi wallet.

Users claim 9,500 WBTC tokens worth $247 million have been moved from Aave to FTX exchange. The movement of liquidity has been unknown and not specified by the Celsius network.

In addition, apart from moving WBTC, Celsius has also moved 54,749 Ethereum worth $74.5 million to FTX, alleged users. Users allege that the Celsius board is not transparent with their dealings and is demanding answers for the fund’s movement.

Overall, Celsius has been accused of $320 million worth of liquidity to the FTX exchange while pausing withdrawals for its users.

“Celsius withdrew 50,000 Ether and 7,000 WBTC collateral from its Aave position in core DeFi wallet 0x8ace. 6,000 WBTC and 20,000 Ether (so far) have been sent to #FTX. After receiving $169 mil $USDC from FTX,” tweeted a user.

“PeckShieldAlert Celsius transferred ～3,500 $WBTC (~$89m) to FTX within the last hour,” alerted and tweeted PeckShieldAlert.

Celsius Network On A Free Fall

Celsius slumped 70% today after announcing it is pausing withdrawals for users. The token is now down nearly 40% and could head south further. Also, the entire cryptocurrency market is experiencing a bloodbath today as Bitcoin fell below the $25,000 mark today. In addition, $200 million worth of Bitcoin shorts were liquidated in the past 24-hours making the leading crypto bleed.

Read More: Binance CEO Responds to SEC Investigation Stating That ‘BNB Is Not a Security’

It is advised to stay away from CEL Network in the hopes of ‘buying the dip’. Moreover, the crypto market is now in a free-fall mode and CEL could faced further drawdowns.

At press time, Celsius was trading at $0.226039 and is down 40.4% in the 24-hours day trade. It is also down 97% from its all-time high of $8.05, which it reached in June last year.

This price crash is, however, not an isolated event as it is part of a massive drop across the crypto industry over the last 24 hours. 

For context, Bitcoin, the flagship digital asset, has dropped by nearly 2% within the last 24 hours to less than $29k.

However, Ethereum’s loss places it among the top losers within the time frame amongst the top 10 digital assets by market cap.

Why is Ethereum Price Falling?

Ethereum’s rapid price drop within the last 24 hours is surprising because the network recently celebrated its Ropsten merge, which many analysts predicted would be a precursor to the Merge.

However, it appears the Merge has hit a snag as Tim Beiko, a core developer at Ethereum Foundation, recently hinted that the Merge could be happening between August and November.

If we found 0 more bugs, we can probably merge in a couple months. I just don’t think that’s realistic. Also don’t think it’s likely we will find 10, or even 5?, more severe issues. Confidence shrinks exponentially within that range, though.

This is in line with an earlier statement made by Vitalik Buterin who wrote that the merge could happen between August and October while also pointing out that there are risks of delays.

According to Ben Edgington, the lead product manager for Teku, the Ethereum difficulty bomb is also one of the reasons for the delay in the Merge. 

Per his statement,

So we will push back the Ethereum difficulty bomb. We say it won’t delay the Merge. I sincerely hope not. Every extra week on PoW generates close to 1 million tonnes of CO2 emissions.

Ethereum’s difficulty bomb is a mechanism designed to increase the mining difficulty of the asset. It is also a mechanism by the developers to encourage miners to abandon the proof-of-work mechanism for the proof-of-stake network.

The online platform for luxury fashion will do this through its partnership with cryptocurrency payment infrastructure provider Lunu. Lunu will also provide point of sale terminals for in-store payments. In order to pay, users will have to scan a QR code with their phones.

According to the report, FarFetch will start with seven cryptocurrencies, including the aforementioned, and the service will be available for its high-end private clients. But all US, UK, and Europe customers will have access to the option later in the year.

Speaking on the development, FarFetch founder and CEO José Neves said, “This was a crucial step to test and learn, and we are excited to share our technical and service know-how with our community.”

“As a platform company, we are continually innovating to serve as the bridge for the luxury industry to new technologies and environments where the luxury customer is today and where they’ll be tomorrow,” he added.

Additionally, the company said the decision to accept cryptocurrencies came after testing the Lunu payment systems at Off-White flagship stores in Paris, Milan, and London.

Although LVMH owns a 60% stake in Off-white, New Guards Group operates the company. The Milan-based New Guards Group is a subsidiary of FarFetch. The test also included Browns, a FarFetch-owned luxury retailer.

FarFetch and Other Luxury Firms in Crypto

This move means that FarFetch has joined the elite of luxury fashion companies that have pivoted into crypto. Top fashion brands like Balenciaga, Continental Diamond, Tag Heuer, and Gucci have shown interest in the growing niche.

This is coming less than a day after Deloitte released a survey that shows that 75% of US merchants are preparing to accept crypto payments over the next two years. The survey showed the optimism among retailers and their view of crypto.

FarFetch is a British-Portuguese luxury fashion group listed on the New York stock exchange. With over a decade in existence, the company has a global reach and is worth over $3 billion.