Alex Mashinsky Handed Permanent CFTC Trading Ban After Celsius Collapse

TLDR

• The CFTC has permanently banned Alex Mashinsky from trading commodities, futures, and derivatives
• The ban closes the CFTC’s first-ever enforcement case against a crypto lending platform
• Mashinsky is already serving a 12-year prison sentence for fraud related to Celsius’ 2022 collapse
• He has now been banned by the CFTC, FTC, and faces a pending SEC case
• Mashinsky filed in May to vacate his criminal sentence, claiming ineffective lawyers and misconduct

Alex Mashinsky, the founder of collapsed crypto lender Celsius, has been permanently banned from trading in any markets overseen by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

A federal court in the Southern District of New York approved the consent order on Thursday. The order bars Mashinsky from ever registering with the CFTC or participating in commodities, futures, or derivatives markets.

The CFTC said the settlement closes its first-ever enforcement case against a digital asset lending platform. The agency originally filed the action in 2023.

No new fines were added as part of this settlement. Mashinsky is already serving a 12-year prison sentence handed down in May 2025, following a guilty plea to securities and commodities fraud.

He was also ordered to pay a $50,000 fine and return $48 million as part of his criminal case.

What Celsius Was Accused Of

The CFTC said Mashinsky and Celsius ran a scheme that misled hundreds of thousands of customers about the safety, profitability, and regulatory compliance of its platform.

The regulator alleged Celsius took in around $20 billion in customer funds and made risky investments to fund the returns it had promised users.

Celsius collapsed in 2022 during a broad crypto market downturn. The CFTC said that even as the company was suffering heavy losses, it kept telling customers their money was safe.

Celsius was one of several high-profile crypto firms that failed around the same time, making the fallout from that period especially damaging for the industry.

A Growing List of Bans

The CFTC ban is not the first time Mashinsky has been barred from an industry.

In April, he settled with the Federal Trade Commission. That deal permanently bars him from working with any product or service that can be used to deposit, exchange, invest, or withdraw assets.

The SEC still has an active case against Mashinsky, filed in July 2023. It accuses him of making an unregistered securities offering, misrepresenting Celsius’ business, and manipulating the price of the Celsius token.

In late May, the SEC told a federal court it had begun settlement talks with Mashinsky. No deal has been reached. A court gave both sides another 60 days to continue negotiations.

Meanwhile, Mashinsky filed a motion on May 26 to vacate his 12-year criminal sentence. He claimed his lawyers were ineffective, that evidence was tainted by official misconduct, and that FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried was responsible for manipulating the Celsius token price.

A court has ordered prosecutors to respond to that motion by mid-August.

The CFTC settlement marks one of the last major regulatory actions against Mashinsky to reach a resolution, with only the SEC case still pending.

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