The pseudonymous NFT collector known as “0xb1” posted a Twitter thread on July 7, 2022, that details the collector’s real name and his connection to the crypto loan company Celsius.
Jason Stone, also known as 0xb1, said that his team discovered “major problems in how the company operated,” with Stone telling Celsius his team planned on terminating their relationship in March 2021. Stone claims that Celsius experienced impermanent loss and falsely accused him of stealing as the team began to unwind its DeFi positions.
The creator of Keyfi, a startup DeFi aggregator in which Celsius held a stake, Jason Stone, has accused Celsius of violating several moral principles, including “running a Ponzi scheme.” Stone utilized the Twitter identity “0xb1,” a well-known NFT whale in the crypto business with 121,200 Twitter followers, to communicate with the public. In October 2021, 0xb1 signed a contract with the entertainment agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA).
Using the official 0xb1 Twitter account, Stone claimed on Thursday that he and a “group of talented individuals” were in charge of running the 0xb1 address from August 2020 until April 2021. He stated in the Twitter thread that he believed “it is only prudent to finally clear the record.” Stone stated that his staff was “handling approximately $2 billion of assets” by the time the two businesses parted ways when Celsius partially purchased Keyfi.
The Keyfi founder continued by saying that Celsius had reassured him that “risk management and hedging in place to account for changes in token pricing” had been put in place. “But in late Feb 2021, we discovered Celsius had lied to us. They had not been hedging our activities, nor had they been hedging the fluctuations in cryptoasset prices. The entire company’s portfolio had naked exposure to the market.”
“The recent revelation that Celsius does not have the assets on hand to meet its withdrawal obligations shows that defendants were, in fact, operating a Ponzi scheme,” mentions the lawsuit. The lawsuit also mentions that the parties acted together “without any formal written agreement” and that both of them were “engaged in an enterprise for ‘mutual benefit… based on mutual respect and trust.’”
Stone also added that:
“Given the public speculation about the company’s solvency, and my observation of Celsius’ loose relationship with the truth, I feel it is only prudent to finally set the record straight. I have brought legal action against Celsius to settle this issue once and for all.”