Celsius aims to outperform banks at their own game by offering financial services on the kind of terms which traditional financial institutions no longer offer.
These include much higher rates of returns on savings and deposits, much easier and fairer loan requirements and automated rewards computed for each user algorithmically. Penalties and bank-style fees are also waived.
The platform also functions as a wallet via its CelPay feature, and hosts its own CEL token which users can leverage to increase payout value among other things.
As a for-profit company, Celsius takes a cut of profit margins on interest payments, still returning 80% to users themselves. The company also lends to institutional entities such as hedge funds.
Payments are ensured because loans are asset-backed, and any borrower must supply more than 100% of what they borrow in the destination currency.