Celsius Network investors are unlikely to provide additional funding to rescue the struggling cryptocurrency lender, people with knowledge of the situation have said.

A large Canadian pension fund, the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, and WestCap Group, a growth capital firm founded by tech investor Laurence Tosi, former chief financial officer of Airbnb, are not expected to invest more money to help the crypto lender. , the sources said. Last year, WestCap and Caisse de depot led a Series B funding round that raised $750 million for Celsius and valued the cryptocurrency startup at over $3 billion.

“Not many people feel good,” said a person familiar with discussions between Celsius and its investors. “There was more risk than was assessed,” he said, referring to the investment in Celsius.

Celsius, which operates a cryptocurrency lending platform, scared off cryptocurrency investors last Sunday by suspending all withdrawals, trades and transfers from its clients to prevent a mass takeover of their accounts. The company receives cryptocurrency deposits from customers and lends them to other users for return. But cryptocurrency values ​​are falling and the lender is struggling to meet its obligations to depositors and other lenders.

Celsius has hired restructuring lawyers from the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP to help resolve its growing financial problems and review options, including new investments or financial restructuring, according to the report. the wall street journal earlier this week.

Existing investors appear ready to back down and let another company try to buy the business, or simply let the company restructure, according to another person familiar with efforts to save the company from Celsius.