Customers of UK-based crypto lending network Celsius have woken up this morning to find they are unable to log in to the mobile wallet and access their funds.
The Celsius website is also unavailable for many, and a message in the app explains only:
"Celsius is currently updating its DNS servers. During this time, our systems will be temporarily unavailable. This process is expected to last up to 24 hours."
With no indication in that message of whether their funds are safe, users have been taking to Twitter to find out more. The pinned tweet on the official Celsius account gives some more detail, including reassurance around funds:
Celsius Network founder Alex Mashinsky, who is known for his regular AMA ('Ask Mashinsky Anything') sessions on YouTube, has been busy replying to anxious customers personally. He explained that the slow DNS propagation is affecting those outside the US in particular:
A common criticism among users is the lack of email communication from Celsius relating to the incident:
And judging by the tone of some of the messages, it looks like the outage will lose Celsius some business:
And just as I finished writing this, Celsius pinned another update on Twitter:
As a Celsius customer myself, I must say I will be relieved when I can access my funds once again.
I narrowly avoided investing my funds with Cred before the platform was hit by 'fraudulent activity' and subsequently filed for bankruptcy. I am not drawing any comparisons between Celsius and Cred, but I have become more conscious of the risks of not holding my own private keys.
