Shalini Nagarajan

<div id="highlights-block_62f0cea458fb2" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>A Celsius backer had formally objected to bringing Bolger back, alleging he was either not well informed or intentionally misled investors</li>
 <li>Bolger said he was “happy” the lender’s liquidity practices just days before withdrawal freezes</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Celsius has reverted its intention to retain its former chief financial officer as an adviser, right before a hearing on the matter was set to take place.



The cryptocurrency lender withdrew its earlier motion in a Friday <a href="https://cases.stretto.com/public/x191/11749/PLEADINGS/1174908052280000000083.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">filing</a>, which had requested the right to keep banking veteran Rod Bolger on throughout its bankruptcy proceedings. Celsius didn’t provide a reason for its change of mind.



Celsius originally <a href="https://cases.stretto.com/public/x191/11749/PLEADINGS/1174907262280000000010.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">filed</a> to seek Bolger’s advisory services on July 25, with a court hearing scheduled for today (Monday). If the motion were approved, Celsius would have paid Bolger 120,000 Canadian dollars ($92,800) per month as an adviser, prorated for partial months. 



The firm paid Bolger $750,000 per year base salary, as well as a performance-based cash bonus of up to 75% alongside stock and token options, according to court documents. Bolger was first hired in February and only spent five months at Celsius in total. He previously served as chief financial officer at Royal Bank of Canada.



Bolger resigned on June 30, about three weeks after the platform <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/celsius-lending-platform-suspends-withdrawals-and-transfers/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">froze withdrawals</a> on its network. But his voluntary termination required serving an eight-week notice period, meaning he&#8217;s technically still employed at Celsius and will continue receiving a base salary until the end of August.



Celsius didn’t return Blockworks’ request for comment by press time.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Would-be adviser Bolger lauded Celsius liquidity before collapse</h3>



The lender’s move to withdraw the motion follows a formal objection by investor Keith Suckno. In an <a href="https://cases.stretto.com/public/x191/11749/PLEADINGS/1174908022280000000054.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">August 2 filing</a>, Suckno said Celsius failed to explain why Bolger’s services were required and drew attention to alleged provision of “false information” days prior to the withdrawal freeze.



He pointed to a company <a href="https://blog.celsius.network/get-to-know-rod-bolger-chief-financial-officer-celsius-9c60718f205d" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">blog post</a> published on June 8, in which the former executive overstated the firm’s financial position.



In that post, Bolger said he was happy about Celsius’ “strong liquidity framework, established practices around liquidity data” and that the firm was “in a strong position to weather the recent market turbulence.”



Suckno objected to Bolger’s appointment as an adviser, saying he was either not well informed or intentionally misled investors. 



After Bolger’s resignation, Celsius promoted head of investor relations Chris Ferraro to chief financial officer. The lender <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/celsius-to-file-for-bankruptcy-imminently-report/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">filed for bankruptcy</a> just two days later. Its native token CEL has lost two-thirds of its value so far this year, but its price has more than doubled in the past month, <a href="https://www.blockworksresearch.com/assets/cel" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks Research</a> shows.&nbsp;



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Celsius

Celsius Won’t Bring CFO Back as Adviser for $93K per Month After All

Jacquelyn Melinek

<div id="highlights-block_621557c086517" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Rod Bolger has over 25 years of experience in traditional financial institutions from other industry players like Bank of America, Citigroup and PwC</li>
 <li>Celsius has over $8.2 billion in loans processed, over $18.9 billion in assets and about two million community members as of Feb. 18</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Cryptocurrency lender Celsius has tapped a Royal Bank of Canada alum as its new chief financial officer, the company’s CEO Alex Mashinsky told Blockworks.



Rod Bolger previously held the same title at the Canadian bank, one of the country’s largest. He has over 25 years of experience in traditional finance, with resume stints including Bank of America, Citigroup and PwC.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="300" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Rod-Bolger-celsius-cfo.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17763" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Rod-Bolger-celsius-cfo.jpg?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Rod-Bolger-celsius-cfo.jpg?w=150 150w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Rod-Bolger-celsius-cfo.jpg?w=257 257w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Rod-Bolger-celsius-cfo.jpg?w=261 261w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Rod-Bolger-celsius-cfo.jpg?w=219 219w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Rod-Bolger-celsius-cfo.jpg?w=80 80w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Rod-Bolger-celsius-cfo.jpg?w=50 50w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Rod Bolger, Celsius CFO | Source: Celsius</figcaption></figure></div>



Bolger replaces Celsius’ Interim CFO Roni Cohen-Pavon, who will remain in his role as the company’s chief revenue officer. Cohen-Pavon stepped in after former CFO Yaron Shalem was suspended last year following his arrest in Israel on suspicion of money laundering, Blockworks <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/celsius-suspends-cfo-due-to-external-fraud-sexual-assault-investigation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>.



Mashinsky told Blockworks that Shalem has since been dismissed.



“[Shalem] was questioned by the police in relation to a matter that happened before he joined Celsius, so we suspended him. And since then, he’s no longer with the company,” Mashinsky said. “It’s not a good situation, but nothing he did had to do with Celsius, so there was no money missing or wrongdoing that occured at Celsius.”



Bolger is tasked with implementing controls to protect client assets and help the company expand globally.



&#8220;I am thrilled for the opportunity to join such a fast growing mission-based company such as Celsius,&#8221; Bolger said in a statement. “I feel fortunate to be able to bring my traditional finance and banking experience to help grow this visionary global company.&#8221;



This move adds to the ongoing trend of talent migrating from other industries, mainly finance, into crypto. This shift has been building for years and is expected to continue to accelerate, Blockworks <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/the-upside-is-huge-tradfi-talent-flocks-to-crypto/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>.



Bolger made over $4 million at RBC, according to <a href="https://www.erieri.com/executive/salary/rod-bolger-akvo" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">data</a> by the Economic Research Institute. He left the bank in September 2021 after five years. 



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“The fact that he wanted to jump into crypto is phenomenal,” Mashinsky said. It’s rare that high-paid executives at banks leave for crypto companies, but Bolger did, which speaks volumes to the crypto industry’s ability to attract talent, Mashinsky added. </blockquote>



“There are CFOs who do number-crunching, and there are CFOs who love creating businesses and, [Bolger] is doing the latter,” he said.



Celsius has over $8.2 billion in loans processed, over $18.9 billion in assets and about two million community members, as of Feb. 18, its website <a href="https://celsius.network/about-us" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">stated</a>. In November, the company expanded its Series B funding round from $400 million to an oversubscribed <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/?s=celsius#:~:text=Celsius%20Expands%20its%20Series%20B%20From%20%24400M%20to%20Oversubscribed%20%24750M" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$750 million</a>, marking one of the largest funding rounds in crypto history.



Celsius hopes that it can continue to “build that bridge from TradFi to crypto” alongside other crypto-focused companies by bringing in talent from both traditional finance and crypto, Mashinsky commented.



“We don’t want to take the worst habits from Wall Street, we want to bring the best ideas that help crypto…there are trillions of dollars [in traditional finance] that need to cross that bridge, and that’s what is at stake,” Mashinsky said.



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Rod Bolger

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Blockworks Research