LONDON: Crypto lending company Celsius halted all withdrawals on Monday, citing "extreme market conditions," according to media sources.

The tumultuous firm, which has lent out more than USD8 billion and handled over USD12 billion in assets as of May, has yet to specify when the withdrawals will resume. According to the Daily Beast, the firm announced in a note to clients that "because to extreme market conditions, Celsius is halting all withdrawals, Swap, and transfers between accounts."

Some are now concerned about the company's viability, which created a name for itself by giving above-average deposit interest rates.

Its assets have more than halved in value since October 2021, when it had USD26 billion in client funds under management, and the value of its main cel coin has dropped 97% in the same time. After Celsius' news was made public, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies dropped.

Bitcoin, the world's most popular cryptocurrency, fell below USD25,000 per token on Monday morning, down more than 43% this year from around USD49,000 in March. For nearly a month, Bitcoin has been falling, bringing smaller crypto coins down with it.

Ethereum, the second most valuable cryptocurrency, has dropped about 8% in price, trading at USD1,340, a 15-month low. RT stated that Dogecoin, Stellar, Uniswap, XRP, Solana, Polkadot, Polygon, Cardano, and Litecoin were all down by up to 15% in the last 24 hours.

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