Because lending platform Celsius has (temporarily) stopped processing withdrawals, other companies are also experiencing problems. This includes the German fintech company Nuri which offers a bitcoin interest product.
Bitcoin interest product
Nuri is better known as Bitwala. It was founded in 2015 and is based in Berlin. In May 2021, it launched an interest product. Customers received 3% interest on their bitcoin holdings that they deposited with the company. For this, Nuri partnered with lender Celsius to offer the accounts to its users.
But now that problems have arisen at Celsius, Nuri is also affected. As a result, the German company has halted new investments in the product. On its website, the crypto exchange writes the following:
“For the Nuri Bitcoin Interest Account, this means that interest will still be accrued and paid out when these measures are lifted. Until there are further updates, we have also decided to temporarily pause the investment feature in our Bitcoin Interest Account.”
German crypto bank Nuri (~500k users) relies on Celsius for its Bitcoin interest account.
It has now officially paused this product and issued a statement. https://t.co/U2QXmAfpi8
— Patrick Hansen (@paddi_hansen) June 13, 2022
They add that all other services will continue to operate as usual now that “withdrawals and investments for the Bitcoin Interest Account are temporarily suspended”.
Celsius itself will continue to pay interest in the accounts (only they cannot be withdrawn from the platform). Today, competitor Nexo already made an offer to buy part of Celsius.
Nuri has raised a total of €42.3 million in funding.
Difficult times
Nuri was already in difficult times. They recently had to send 20% of their staff home. BlockFi did the same and also fired 20% of its staff. Gemini gave up cryptowinter as a reason to lay off 10% of its staff and Coinbase temporarily stopped processing new job openings.
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Gabriele Spapperi is a veteran cryptocurrency investor and blockchain technology specialist. He became fascinated with Bitcoin and distributed ledgers while studying computer science at MIT in 2011.
Since 2013, Gabriele has actively traded major cryptocurrencies and identified early-stage projects to invest in. He contributes articles to leading fintech publications sharing his insights on blockchain technology, crypto markets, and trading strategies.
With over a decade of experience in the crypto space, Gabriele provides reliable insights and analysis on the latest developments in digital assets and blockchain platforms. When he's not analyzing crypto markets, Gabriele enjoys travel, golf, and fine wine. He currently resides in Austin, Texas.