Celsius Founder Gets Lifetime Crypto Trading Ban

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The legal fallout from Celsius Network’s collapse continues to grow. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has permanently barred Celsius founder and former CEO Alex Mashinsky from participating in markets under its supervision, which brings its long-running civil enforcement case to a close. The latest order adds another major penalty for Mashinsky, who is already serving a 12-year prison sentence for fraud.

CFTC Permanently Bars Mashinsky From Regulated Markets

In a June 18 press release, the CFTC announced that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York approved a consent order resolving the agency’s 2023 enforcement action against Mashinsky.

Under the order, Mashinsky is permanently prohibited from violating certain anti-fraud provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations. He is also permanently banned from trading in markets overseen by the regulator and from registering with the CFTC in any capacity.

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The case dates back to July 2023, when the CFTC accused Mashinsky and Celsius of misleading hundreds of thousands of customers about the safety, profitability, and regulatory status of the company’s crypto lending platform.

According to the complaint, Celsius pooled customer crypto assets and pursued increasingly risky investment strategies, including uncollateralized loans and decentralized finance (DeFi) investments, as it continues to assure users their funds were safe. 

The regulator said the platform ultimately received approximately $20 billion in customer assets before collapsing into bankruptcy.

Another Chapter Closes in the Celsius Saga

Celsius itself settled with the CFTC in 2023, which left Mashinsky as the final remaining defendant in the civil case.

The latest order follows parallel criminal proceedings brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Mashinsky pleaded guilty in December 2024 to one count of commodities fraud and one count of securities fraud.

In May 2025, he was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison, ordered to pay a $50,000 fine, and required to forfeit more than $48.3 million.

Though the CFTC’s case has now officially concluded, Mashinsky still faces a separate civil lawsuit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which continues to pursue allegations related to Celsius’ operations before its 2022 collapse.