Celsius had made an announcement that customers would no longer be able to withdraw their funds. The crypto bank euphemistically termed it “pausing all withdrawals” but it was the digital equivalent of a bank branch locking its doors to keep people from taking their money out—the primitive technique some actually used during 1920s bank runs. Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky had assured me that his company was safer than any bank. When I’d asked why his interest rates were so much higher than banks paid, he’d said that bankers were dishonest and greedy.
