Celsius unveils beta launch for long-awaited in-app swap feature

Lending platform Celsius has unveiled the beta launch of its highly-anticipated in-app swap feature that will allow users to exchange assets on the platform with zero fees.

The beta launch – which is to be rolled out over the next few weeks – will provide existing Celsius users with the first chance to field test the swap feature and provide feedback on its performance.

According to the platform’s ‘rollout plan’, users will have access to the beta in the next month, with more being added gradually over the following two weeks.

The FAQs reveal that Celsius intends to “support as many pairs as possible” and that incremental “swap amount limits” may be introduced to curve excessive use of the feature and stop the platform from becoming a “community of day-traders”.

The introduction of in-app zero-fee swaps will transform the user experience on the app drastically. Previously, to swap assets for another, users would have to withdraw assets from Celsius (with no fees), send them to an exchange such as Binance or a DEX like Uniswap and then send them back to Celsius.

This can incur high costs, especially when accounting for exchange/DEX fees for swaps and trades. The transfer costs back to the platform can also incur costly fees if Ethereum gas fees are high.

The beta launch was announced three days after Celsius disclosed a $400m fundraising effort to help expand its existing array of products and help “build bridges between traditional finance and cryptocurrencies”.

Celsius also noted that the swap feature will be available in selected regions “where Celsius is allowed to offer such service according to local regulations”.

This comes off the back off of the recent regulatory oversight the platform has faced from certain US states that have classified its ‘earn’ product as an “offering of unregistered securities”.