CFTC Permanently Bars Celsius Founder Alex Mashinsky

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued a consent order that permanently bars Alex Mashinsky, founder of Celsius Network, from trading in markets the agency regulates and imposes a permanent ban on CFTC registration. The order resolves the regulator’s 2023 enforcement action and marks the agency’s first case involving a digital asset lending platform.

Mashinsky pleaded guilty to securities and commodities fraud connected to the collapse of Celsius and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Celsius paused withdrawals during the collapse, leaving customers without access to funds and later filing for bankruptcy. Public filings and court records show customer losses exceeded $5 billion.

The CFTC’s consent order includes a permanent trading prohibition and a permanent registration bar tied to Mashinsky’s operation of Celsius, including how the platform offered and managed customer deposits and related derivatives activity under the agency’s authority.

Separate civil actions were brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission. Some civil complaints alleged Mashinsky diverted about $42 million from customers. Earlier this year the FTC reached a settlement that reduced an initial $4.7 billion judgment to $10 million while preserving the regulator’s ability to reinstate larger relief if it finds Mashinsky failed to disclose assets. The FTC order also permanently bars him from working in the cryptocurrency industry.

Court records show Mashinsky filed a handwritten motion in May seeking to vacate his sentence, citing ineffective legal counsel and a conflict of interest tied to his law firm’s work for Sam Bankman-Fried. Mashinsky has alleged that Bankman-Fried manipulated Celsius’s CEL token and harmed the company and its customers. Bankman-Fried is serving a 25-year sentence and recently lost an appeal seeking to overturn his conviction and sentence.

The CFTC consent order aligns the agency’s civil enforcement with ongoing criminal and regulatory proceedings against Mashinsky and Celsius. Customers and creditors continue to pursue recoveries through the bankruptcy process and related civil litigation while federal agencies complete or wind down parallel enforcement tracks.