Over the course of several years, an entrepreneur suggested a steady stream of moonshot concepts in various sectors, frequently leaving a trail of disgruntled investors and coworkers.
For around 30 years, Alex Mashinsky aggressively pursued whatever cutting-edge technology was popular at the moment, proclaiming breakthroughs in long-distance telephony, airport transportation, and most recently, cryptocurrency. He frequently left a wake of disgruntled friends, coworkers, and investors.
His most recent endeavor, Celsius Network LLC, advertised itself as secure and provocative. It provided a mechanism for common people to access the cryptocurrency’s earning potential and challenge conventional banks. Customers of Celsius are concerned that they may never receive their money back after the company filed for bankruptcy protection last month.
Interviews with acquaintances and information from the public establish an image of Mr. Mashinsky as a brazen, self-assured serial entrepreneur with a never-ending supply of innovative ideas. While some of his businesses were more profitable than others, they all have one thing in common: Mr. Mashinsky repeatedly left them in uncomfortable situations.
Each time there was a disagreement, Mr. Mashinsky always managed to come back stronger. He nurtured Celsius into one of the largest cryptocurrency lenders in less than five years, with more than $20 billion in assets at its height. Celsius said in its bankruptcy case that the company had grown too quickly and wasn’t ready for volatile market circumstances.
Even if the failure of one cryptocurrency lender may not seem significant, it might be a precursor to others. There are several related cryptocurrency businesses that lend and borrow digital assets from one another. At least five other cryptocurrency companies have frozen withdrawals since Celsius did so in June, indicating the possibility that speculative trades might unravel and affect larger financial markets.
Requests for comment were not answered by Mr. Mashinsky, 56, or a representative for Celsius. After Celsius sought bankruptcy protection, Mr. Mashinsky released a statement in which he said that Celsius had made “the appropriate decision for our community and company.”
Under Soviet control, Mr. Mashinsky was born in Ukraine in 1965. He said in an interview with a podcast presenter this year that his family left the nation with permission in the 1970s while living in a shanty.
According to a deposition he provided in 2018, Mr. Mashinsky later relocated to Israel, where his official schooling came to an end after two semesters at Tel Aviv University. (The deposition was a component of a case Mr. Mashinsky brought in a New York state court against a friend over a money dispute. The case is still open.)
Around 1995, when he was approximately 30 years old and had just relocated to the United States, he started his first business. According to Bob Barbiere, who worked there with Mr. Mashinsky, the business, Arbinet, established an exchange where phone providers could swap available bandwidth.
Mr. Barbiere, who eventually hired Mr. Mashinsky as a consultant to get investment for a music-industry startup, said, “You didn’t sit around with Alex and chat about the Yankees, the Giants, or what was going on in basketball.” “Alex was a businessman from beginning to end.”
After Mr. Mashinsky left the firm in 1999, venture capitalists seized charge.
