Celsius (CEL) ICO Analysis: A Peer-to-Peer Lending Network

Executive Summary

Project Description

Celsius wants to create a platform where users can save their crypto assets and subsequently, borrow against said assets, hedge their positions and short trade. The entire platform will be powered by Celsius’ token CEL, and Celsius will act as an intermediary between the lenders, the borrowers and the exchangers (traders that exchange CEL for BTC and ETH over the counter). CEL will serve as a reward mechanism for lenders on the platform, and the amount of reward a lender will receive depends on 2 major factors: the amount staked, i.e. amount made available for borrowers, and seniority on the Celsius platform. Furthermore, lenders will have the opportunity to borrow fiat against the crypto assets they stake on Celsius.

Traders will pay in CEL for activities like borrowing and short trading on the platform and the tokens they contribute will be added to the “treasury” and distributed to the lenders. How much a trader will pay will depend on the volume of the trade and how much CEL is in the treasury. If the trade volume is high, and the amount in the treasury is low, fees will increase and lender rewards will increase proportionally.

Celsius has a rigorous KYC routine, and in addition to this, they retain their position as middlemen for all transactions, keeping the network compliant with major financial regulations/regulators.

Hard Cap and Valuation

There will be a total of 500 million CEL tokens and Celsius aim to raise $60 million for 35% of the token total. The remaining 65% is shared thus: 19% goes to the team, 20% is kept in their treasury, 22% goes into reserves, 2% is for their partners, and the final 2% is earmarked for their advisors.

Important Dates

CEL pre-sale is currently underway, and the crowdsale proper is set for February 21, 2018 (tentative and subject to change).

Marketing Power

As at the time this post was published, Celsius had over over 13,400 subscribers on Facebook, 400+ Telegram users, over 1700 followers on Twitter, more than 50 Medium followers and 18 Reddit readers.

Prominent Advisors

Moshe Hogeg

• Founder & Co-CEO at Sirin Labs.

Miko Matsumura

• Co-founder of Evercoin Exchange.

Howey’s Test

According to Howey’s Test conducted by Research Center analysts, it is unlikely that CEL will be considered a security.

Team Members’ Areas of Expertise

Business experts

Alex Mashinsky, Co-Founder and CEO

• Founder of Governing Dynamics, a venture capital firm.

Daniel S. Leon, Co-Founder and COO

• Founder of Atlis Labs, a venture capital firm.

Target market experts

Marketing experts

John Arce, Head of Marketing, Asia

• Founder and CEO of WebGeek in the Philippines (8 years and ongoing).

Legal experts

David brill, Advisor

• General Counsel to the American Stock Transfer & Trust Company, a private fund.
• General Counsel to Gemini LLC for almost a year.

Software engineering experts

Nuke Goldstein, CTO

• Founder and CTO of The Carbon Project.
• MVP labs, Belgrade-based R&D firm.

Blockchain development experts

No team member with pertinent blockchain development experience.

Token sale structure

Apart from the CEO, Alex Mashinsky, who is an advisor to Sirin Labs — a notable blockchain project — there are no other team members with notable token sale structure experience. However, some of their advisors also have some experience in the field.

Token economics

Same as above.

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Disclaimers:

• Nothing written in this article is a legal or an investment advice.
• Information is provided on a best-effort basis and is subject to change without prior notice. Be sure to verify everything you read with a project team.

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The analysis was produced by Research Center team members: Orion Holmes, Mark Jedd, Eugene Tartakovsky.

We are constantly working on improving our work and welcome all constructive feedback. Let us know what you think.

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