Aave

Report: Equitiesfirst Named as Mystery Debtor to Celsius, $439 Million Owed to Crypto Lender

17/07/2022 by Idelto Editor

Ever since Celsius paused withdrawals on June 12, the company has been the focus of attention due to the lender’s financial hardships. A month later, Celsius filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. by leveraging the Chapter 11 process. Two days after the bankruptcy filing, a report disclosed that two people familiar with the matter allege that the private lending platform that owes Celsius $439 million is Equitiesfirst.

FT Sources Allege Private Lending Platform That Owes Celsius $439M Is Equitiesfirst

During the last few weeks, bankruptcies, liquidations, and insolvencies have been a very hot topic in the crypto world. Three well known crypto companies have filed for bankruptcy protection which includes the digital currency exchange Voyager Digital, the crypto lender Celsius, and the crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC). Celsius filed for bankruptcy on July 13, 2022, or 31 days after the company froze withdrawals.

Prior to the bankruptcy filing in July, there was speculation during the second week of June that said Celsius had funds locked into specific decentralized finance (defi) protocols that needed immediate adjustment or significant collateral would be liquidated. A few days before Celsius filed for bankruptcy, the company’s wallets reportedly transferred millions of usd coin (USDC) at different times to pay down loans in Compound and Aave.

When Celsius filed for bankruptcy protection, the filing detailed that Celsius was owed a large sum of funds. On July 15, the Financial Times (FT) reported that “Equitiesfirst [has been] revealed as [the] mysterious debtor to troubled crypto firm Celsius.” The report claims two people familiar with the matter disclosed that Equitiesfirst is the ostensible borrower that owes the crypto lender $439 million.

Founded in 2002, Equitiesfirst is an investment firm that “specializes in long-term asset-backed financing,” according to the company’s website. While Equitiesfirst manages stocks, it has also been dealing with select cryptocurrencies since 2016. The managing director and head of Equitiesfirst Singapore, Johnny Heng, spoke about cryptocurrencies in April 2022.

“We used to be pure equities, until some six years ago, we started to offer loans against cryptocurrency as well, and that activity has really taken off [in] the past year or two,” Heng told hubbis.com in an interview. Speaking with FT, an Equitiesfirst spokesperson said: “Equitiesfirst is in [an] ongoing conversation with our client and both parties have agreed to extend our obligations.”

Meanwhile, celsius network (CEL) token investors tried to short squeeze the company’s native token well before the company filed bankruptcy. However, after the bankruptcy filing, CEL slipped by 58% against the U.S. dollar before it rebounded. Statistics recorded on July 16, 2022, indicate that despite CEL’s market volatility, the crypto asset has gained more than 30% during the last 30 days.

What do you think about the report that says Equitiesfirst has been revealed as the mystery debtor that owes Celsius millions? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Biggest Movers: MATIC Rises for 5th Straight Session, While AAVE Is up Nearly 10%

08/07/2022 by Idelto Editor

MATIC was one of Friday’s notable movers, as prices of the token rose for a fifth consecutive session. This came as crypto markets were mostly in the green for the majority of the day’s session, with AAVE hitting a two-week high.

Polygon (MATIC)

MATIC was a notable mover on Friday, as prices of the token rose for a fifth consecutive day of trading.

Prices rose to an intraday peak of $0.5933 earlier in today’s session, hitting their highest level since June 26 in the process.

This move pushed the token close to its resistance level of $0.6000, with some bulls opting to liquidate positions around that region.

As seen from the chart, the last time prices traded around this ceiling there was a high level of uncertainty, and likely knowing this, bulls decided to secure gains at this mark.

If we were to see a move beyond this point, then it is likely that we would require an increase in relative strength, which is currently facing an obstacle of its own.

As of writing, the Relative Strength Index is tracking at 57.15, which is slightly below a resistance level of 57.50.

AAVE

AAVE was also in the green during Friday’s session, as prices rose to their highest point in over two weeks.

Following a low of $66.32 on Thursday, AAVE/USD rose above $70.00 on Friday, as prices of the token went on to hit an intraday peak of $74.94.

This move saw the token climb to its highest point since June 26, which is similar to the height reached by MATIC earlier today.

Another similarity with AAVE and MATIC sees the former also hitting a resistance point, not only in price but also in terms of relative strength.

Earlier gains faded following a breakout of the ceiling at $73, which likely came as a result of the 14-day RSI hitting its own ceiling at 54.

Despite this, AAVE bulls likely have their eyes set on the $80 point, however until the RSI ceiling is broken, bullish sentiment may remain muted.

Do you expect AAVE to make further gains this weekend? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Value Locked in Defi Swells by $7 Billion, Tron’s TVL Spikes 34.85%, Ethereum Dominates by 62%

07/07/2022 by Idelto Editor

After tapping a 2022 low of $70 billion on June 19, the total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (defi) has increased by more than $7 billion. During the last seven days, the TVL in defi held within the Ethereum blockchain has increased by 4.47% as Ethereum’s TVL commands 62.92% dominance or $48.17 billion of today’s $77.11 billion. Meanwhile, Tron’s TVL skyrocketed this week, jumping 34.85% during the past seven days.

This Past Week Tron’s TVL Jumped by Double-Digits, Smart Contract Tokens Rise, Dex Applications Command Today’s Top Defi TVL Positions

During the last week, six out of the ten top blockchains in defi saw their TVL stats increase by double digits. Ethereum jumped 4.47%, BSC increased 7.02%, Tron spiked 34.85%, Avalanche recorded a 2.81% increase, Solana rose by 9.10%, and Cronos increased by 2.33%.

On Thursday, July 7, 2022, there’s approximately $77.11 billion locked in defi and that metric increased by 1.40% during the last 24 hours. The largest defi protocol TVL is Makerdao’s $7.54 billion or a dominance rating of around 9.78%.

Makerdao’s TVL dominance is followed by protocols such as Aave, WBTC, Curve, Uniswap, Lido, Convex Finance, Pancakeswap, Justlend, and Compound respectively. Makerdao saw a 1.56% increase this past week but the largest gainer in the top ten was Tron’s Justlend with a 90.15% spike last week.

Tron’s Justlend has $2.79 billion locked and at the time of writing, USDD supply deposits get 12.83% annual percentage yield (APY) and the borrow APY is 21.76%.

In terms of losses, the blockchain Fantom saw 6.7% leave the chain’s TVL and Arbitrum was the biggest loser out of the top ten list as Arbitrum’s TVL decreased by 11.01% this week.

Out of today’s $77.11 billion, 481 decentralized exchange (dex) applications command $24.67 billion total value locked, 155 defi lenders capture $17.55 billion, and 22 defi bridge applications currently have $11.31 billion locked.

In addition to the rise in defi’s TVL across various blockchains, the top smart contract platform tokens have jumped 5.6% higher in the last 24 hours to $272 billion. This past week, ethereum (ETH) increased by 11.3%, BNB jumped 10% higher, Cardano (ADA) is up 1.6%, solana (SOL) is up 13.3%, and Polkadot increased by 2%.

The biggest smart contract token gainers this past week were counterparty (XCP) which jumped 25.3%, komodo (KMD) increased by 25%, and ubiq (UBQ) rose by 19.3% during the last seven days.

Cross-chain bridge TVLs combined lost 60.4% during the last 30 days and Polygon’s bridge is the largest with $3.55 billion TVL. Polygon’s bridge TVL is followed by Arbitrum, Avalanche, Optimism, and Near Rainbow.

The top five digital assets leveraged on cross-chain bridge tech include USDC, WETH or ETH, USDT, WBTC, and DAI respectively.

This week, the worst TVL losses in decentralized finance stem from protocols such as Piggbank DAO, Metavault DAO, Houses of Rome, Jade Protocol, and Risk Harbor. The biggest TVL protocol increases in defi during the past seven days were recorded by Hermes Defi, Maple, Omni Protocol, OGX, and Strategyx Finance.

What do you think about the state of the defi landscape today and the TVL swelling by $7 billion? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Report: Three Arrows Capital Liquidated for Millions, Sources Say Crypto Hedge Fund May Face Insolvency

15/06/2022 by Idelto Editor

According to “well-placed sources,” speaking with The Block reporter Frank Chaparro, the digital currency hedge fund known as Three Arrows Capital (3AC) may be facing insolvency after significant liquidations. Sources say that the 3AC “liquidation totaled at least $400 million” and the hedge fund’s founder Su Zhu tweeted about “communicating with relevant parties” Tuesday evening (ET).

‘Well-Placed Sources’ Say Three Arrows Capital Was Liquidated for at Least $400 Million, Hedge Fund Allegedly Maintains ‘Limited Contact With Its Counter-Parties’

The crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital Ltd. founded by Su Zhu and Kyle Davies in 2012 could be on the brink of insolvency, according to a recent report. The Block’s Frank Chaparro reported that sources remarked 3AC may have been liquidated for roughly $400 million. The sources also noted that 3AC has “maintained limited contact with its counter-parties since being liquidated.” Dune Analytics data indicates that 3AC’s portfolio allocation is around $372.47 million and that has seen a 24-hour change of around $139.12 million.

While 3AC’s portfolio consists of tokens like AAVE, BAT, CEL, FTT, GUSD, LIDO, and LINK, currently $166 million is now in usd coin (USDC). The second-largest 3AC allocation is held in serum (SRM) as the hedge fund holds $46.3 million in SRM. 3AC was also invested in the Terra ecosystem of tokens and it allegedly lost significant capital from the LUNA and UST fallout. Meanwhile, as there has been no official word from 3AC about the possibility of the hedge fund going insolvent, 3AC co-founder Su Zhu made a vague statement about the situation.

“We are in the process of communicating with relevant parties and fully committed to working this out,” the 3AC co-founder said. Before that message, Su Zhu had not tweeted since June 7. Numerous crypto investors asked questions about the statement, but Su Zhu did not respond to any tweets. The other 3AC co-founder, Kyle Davies, stopped tweeting on June 9.

The 3AC liquidations and possible insolvency is not a good look for the crypto community at the moment. Especially because of the problems surrounding Celsius, Justin Sun’s and Tron’s wobbly USDD stablecoin, Microstrategy’s major losses, and the upcoming Federal Reserve meeting that may see one of the largest federal funds rate hikes in history. Amid all this doom and gloom, the global economy looks extremely dark and inflation is wreaking havoc on the world’s citizens, after a myriad of governments pumped trillions into the global economy over the last two years.

What do you think about the report that says Three Arrows Capital suffered from significant liquidations and may be insolvent? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Decentralized Autonomous Organization Statistics Show $10 Billion Is Held by DAO Treasuries

10/06/2022 by Idelto Editor

During the early years of the cryptocurrency space, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and smart contracts were discussed in theory. Nowadays many people consider The DAO, launched in 2016 by members of the Slock.it development team, to be the first smart contract-based DAO. In 2022, there’s a lot more DAOs, as statistics show that $10 billion is held by DAO treasuries.

Thousands of DAOs, $10 Billion Held in Treasuries, 1.7 Million Governance Token Holders

Well before the concepts were introduced, smart contracts and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) came to the imagination of a few legendary cryptographers. Following Satoshi Nakamoto’s great invention, blockchain technology coupled with smart contracts opened the doors for decentralized organizations.

In 2016, Ethereum developers and members of the Slock.it team created what many refer to and cite as the first decentralized autonomous organization. After Stephan Tual, Simon Jentzsch, and Christoph Jentzsch announced The DAO, the project managed to raise $150 million from the tokens sold.

However, due to vulnerabilities in its code base, The DAO was hacked and the attacker managed to siphon millions of dollars in ethereum (ETH). “This is an issue that affects the DAO specifically; Ethereum itself is perfectly safe,” Vitalik Buterin said in June 2016. The DAO attack did not stop the creation of DAOs, as a report published in September 2021 by Consensys recorded “978,000 DAO members.”

“Current projects include many that focus solely on token services, governance, treasury management, risk management, growth, community, operations, and development for DAOs,” the Consensys report details.

Academic Paper on DAOs Says Concept ‘May Introduce a New Era in Organizational Economics’

Statistics from the analytical web portal deepdao.io shows there’s $10 billion in value held by the top decentralized autonomous organizations today in terms of treasury holdings. $7.1 billion is liquid and $2.9 billion is currently vested, according to metrics at the time of writing.

Out of the top DAOs there are 1.7 million governance token holders, and 669,000 active voters and proposal makers. Uniswap’s DAO has the largest treasury at the time of writing, with $2.2 billion, and Gnosis is the second largest with $1.5 billion.

Uniswap also has the largest number of governance token holders with 332,900 recorded today. In terms of governance token holder numbers, Uniswap is followed by Decentraland, Compound, ENS, Aave, and Synthetix. Below Uniswap’s and Gnosis’s treasury holdings are Bitdao ($1.3B), Polkadot ($441.9M), and UXD protocol ($406.9M).

The top three DAOs today, in terms of treasury size, hold multiple tokens while Polkadot’s DAO only holds DOT. UXD protocol leverages five different cryptos in the treasury, including the project’s algorithmic stablecoin based on the Solana blockchain. Out of Uniswap’s 332,900 governance token holders, deepdao.io statistics indicate there are only 8,400 active members.

Metrics show Gnosis has 17,700 governance token holders but only 1,500 active members. Uniswap has 83 governance proposals, Gnosis has 43 proposals, and Bitdao currently has 10 proposals users can vote on. Pancake Swap and Decentraland have the most proposals as Pancake Swap has 3,300 and the metaverse project Decentraland has 1,200 governance proposals on the table.

DAOs are most definitely a reality now, but there’s a whole lot of debate on how decentralized and autonomous they really are. Despite some setbacks, an academic paper on DAOs says that overall, “DAOs may introduce a new era in organizational economics, transforming the global corporate landscape from hierarchical organizations to democratic and distributed organizations powered by organizational entrepreneurship and innovations.”

What do you think about the thousands of DAOs today and the $10 billion held by DAO treasuries? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.