Altcoin prices were back in the green – in a big way – on Tuesday.
The vast majority of the top 100 cryptocurrencies posted gains. The ones in the red were less than 1% below the break-even line. Even the Celsius Network coin (CEL) was spared punishment – for a change – as it dropped marginally.
CEL to USD
Chiliz spikes again
Chiliz (CHZ) posted a double-digit gain for the second straight day, rising about 24% – after being an outlier on Monday when almost the entire market declined with bitcoin (BTC). (All figures based on CoinMarketCap data around the time that conventional markets closed in North America.)
Convex (CVX) climbed approximately 13% while bitcoin cash (BCH) and curve (CRV) were both up about 12%. Meanwhile, Cosmos (ATOM) increased 10%.
CVX to USD
Celsius sues fund manager
While its coin treaded water, the Celsius Network made news by accusing former money manager Jason Stone of theft.
Celsius, which filed for bankruptcy in July after freezing customer accounts, made the allegation in a $17m (£14.37m) lawsuit that it filed against Stone and his company KeyFi in a New York bankruptcy court.
The legal action came after Stone sued Celsius in July, alleging that the distressed crypto lender fraudently deprived him of millions of dollars worth of employment compensation.
In its lawsuit filed Tuesday, Celsius contends that KeyFi was “extraordinarily inept” when it came to investing crypto and failed to hedge against price volatility. Celsius also alleges that it could not recover all of the assets that it demanded back from KeyFi.
Celsius accused Stone of misappropriating funds to buy non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and then covering his tracks by using crypto mixer Tornado Cash, which was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department on 8 August. The Treasury Department alleged that Tornado Cash helped launder stolen funds.
Lawyer calls Stone scapegoat
Kyle Roche, a lawyer for Stone, contended in an email to Bloomberg that the Celsius claims are not valid.
“Celsius’s most recent filing is an attempt to rewrite history and use KeyFi and Mr. Stone as a scapegoat for their organizational incompetence,” wrote Roche.
Roche asserted that the allegedly misappropriated funds and purchased NFTs comprised compensation that Celsius CEO Alexander Mashinsky authorized.
Bitcoin and ether bounce back
Bitcoin and ether (ETH) bounced back on Tuesday, raising the rest of the market with them.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency was back in the green after losing about 9% in the previous four days. However, bitcoin stayed in the $21,000 range.
Ether, the Ethereum blockchain’s main coin, got back above $1,600 as it increased about 4%, continuing to outperform bitcoin. Investors appeared to renew their appetite for ether following a recent price lull.
The coin has drawn increased interest as Ethereum’s hard fork, known as the Merge, approaches in September.
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