Lending news-Page 24
Warp Finance adds Chainlink oracles to protect against flash loans
Warp Finance, a DeFi lending protocol that suffered an $8 million flash loan exploit shortly after release, is now gearing up for a relaunch that will include an integration with oracles by Chainlink. The inclusion of Chainlink oracles reportedly serves as protection against similar exploits. Flash loan exploits use a feature that allows borrowing an unlimited amount of funds, as long as it is also returned within the same Ethereum block. According to the team, security experts determined that the root cause of the exploit was an exploitable price oracle. The issue seems to have been compounded by Warp Finance’s …
Technology / Jan. 8, 2021
States sue the OCC and Brian Brooks for overriding their controls on predatory lending
Eight states and the District of Columbia are suing the national bank regulator over a rule change that just came into effect. Per a Jan. 5 filing, New York's attorney general is leading the charge against the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and current Acting Comptroller Brian Brooks. Back in October, the OCC laid out its "True Lender" rule, which took effect at the end of December. The rule dictates that a loan that includes a national bank as a lender can therefore rely on the OCC's national guidance rather than that of individual states. The controversy here …
Regulation / Jan. 5, 2021
Compound refused to compensate victims of unfair liquidation — Here's why
On Monday, the majority of the Compound Finance governance community voted against a proposed compensation plan for users affected by the Dai liquidations that occurred on Nov. 26. Figures from the Compound governance dashboard show 681,290 votes against and only 212,952 votes in favor. Also, COMP whales such as Polychain Capital and Dharma were against the plan, judging by their “no” votes cast. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, some leveraged COMP farmers suffered massive liquidations amid a temporary glitch in the oracle price feed for the Dai stablecoin coming from Coinbase on Nov. 26. With Dai at a 30% premium, …
Technology / Dec. 16, 2020
Sovryn launches complete suite for Bitcoin DeFi on RSK
Sovryn, a decentralized finance platform operating on the RSK Bitcoin sidechain, announced on Tuesday its public launch. Users can now access a full suite for trading Bitcoin (BTC) in a trustless, noncustodial environment, benefiting from powerful leverage and yield opportunities. The platform presents a mix of major DeFi building blocks, including a collateralized lending protocol and automated market maker exchange. Users can trade long or short with up to five-times leverage, while holders of Bitcoin (BTC), Tether (USDT) and the Dollar on Chain (DOC) stablecoin can earn interest by lending their assets. Later in December, the project plans to launch …
Technology / Dec. 15, 2020
Fidelity unlocks Bitcoin as collateral for borrowing on BlockFi
Fidelity Digital Assets, the crypto arm of the asset management conglomerate, will allow institutional customers to pledge their Bitcoin (BTC) as collateral for cash loans. As reported Wednesday by Bloomberg, the firm partnered with crypto lender BlockFi to disburse the loans. Institutional clients of Fidelity’s custodial solution will be able to draw cash loans from their stored Bitcoin without having to move it, provided they have an account with BlockFi. The target customers of this feature are primarily hedge funds, miners and over-the-counter trading desks. Overcollateralized lending is generally used to access liquidity without losing a long position on the …
Bitcoin / Dec. 9, 2020
Ten crypto leaders are in the new Forbes 30 Under 30 list
Ten of the youthful business leaders featured in this year’s Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list work in blockchain and cryptocurrency, highlighting increasing acceptance of the industry from the mainstream media. Despite its name, the list actually highlights 600 young people across various categories — with the crypto alumni including seven individuals in the finance category, one in venture capital, one in energy, and one in manufacturing. The finance category features the founder of the $1.2 billion crypto derivatives exchange FTX, and quantitative trading firm Alameda Research, Sam Bankman-Fried. Since launching last year, FTX has made waves by offering innovative products …
Blockchain / Dec. 2, 2020
Yearn Finance announces another ‘merger’ with the Cream lending protocol
Two days after Yearn Finance (YFI) and Pickle Finance joined forces in DeFi’s first effective merger, Yearn founder Andre Cronje published details of another upcoming integration with Cream, a lending protocol similar to Compound and Aave. The blog post, published on Thursday, outlines how the two protocols will cooperate for the launch of Cream V2. As part of the partnership, the teams will merge development resources and introduce several symbiotic interactions between the two protocols. Yearn users will be able to put their vault tokens — their share in a yield farming strategy fund — as collateral to borrow on …
Technology / Nov. 26, 2020
Judge rejects motion to freeze Cred’s crypto assets in bankruptcy case
United States Bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey has denied an emergency motion filed by 15 customers of the embattled crypto lending firm Cred Inc. to freeze crypto assets held by the firm on exchanges amid its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. More than a dozen of Cred’s creditors the emergency motion on Nov. 23, seeking to compel 21 cryptocurrency exchanges to freeze assets held by Cred on their respective platforms, including five U.S.-based exchanges. During a Nov. 25 hearing, Dorsey asserted that he could not act on the motion without evidence surrounding the status and ownership of the crypto assets in question, …
Business / Nov. 26, 2020
Japanese financial giant SBI debuts Bitcoin lending service
Japanese financial giant SBI Group is introducing a cryptocurrency lending service through its crypto-related subsidiary, SBI VC Trade. According to an official announcement on Nov. 24, the new crypto lending platform will allow users to lend their crypto to SBI and earn interest at a rate of 1% with taxes included. The new service, dubbed VC Trade Lending, will initially support the major cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC), with SBI further planning to add support for Ether (ETH) and XRP. The minimum lending amount is 0.1 BTC, or $1,840 at publishing time, while the maximum amount is capped at 5 BTC, or …
Technology / Nov. 24, 2020
Value DeFi protocol suffers $6 million flash loan exploit
Following a Twitter thread on Friday that highlighted the decentralized finance protocol’s flash loan exploit prevention methodology, Value DeFi appears to have been the victim of a $6 million flash loan exploit. At roughly 10:45 AM EST, a user took out a flashloan of 80,000 ETH (over $36 million) from lending protocol Aave. Aave developer Emilio Frangella immediately called attention to the loan: 80.000 eth flashloan on @AaveAave https://t.co/ngnHIoNKpi — Emilio Frangella (@The3D_) November 14, 2020 According to Emiliano Bonassi, a self-described whitehat hacker and the co-founder of DeFi Italy, the attacker also sourced an additional $116 million flash loan …
Ethereum / Nov. 14, 2020
Celsius reports it doubled its crypto holdings to $2.2B in six months
Crypto lending and borrowing platform Celsius has announced that it now holds more than $2.2 billion in digital assets under management. According to a Nov. 9 release, Celsius has more than doubled its net crypto holdings six months after first surpassing $1 billion in June. The platform has attracted more than 215,000 total users worldwide in total. Excluding its AUM, Celsius’ balance sheet now includes cash and its native CEL tokens, worth more than $680 million. Celsius offers a centralized alternative to decentralized finance, dubbed “CeFi” by much of the crypto community. Crypto assets deposited on the platform are lent …
Business / Nov. 10, 2020
Cred customers demand answers after platform files for bankruptcy
United States-based cryptocurrency lending service Cred filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Saturday, leaving many customers searching for solutions to get their funds. According to court documents, the legal team for Cred CEO Daniel Schatt filed bankruptcy papers for the company in the District of Delaware on Nov. 7. Cred listed its estimated assets at between $50-100 million and its estimated liabilities between $100-500 million. In an official statement, the company said it had filed for Chapter 11 in an attempt “to maximize the value of its platform for its creditors.” The bankruptcy filing comes following an Oct. 28 …
Business / Nov. 8, 2020