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Post-Hack Shenanigans: Curve (CRV) To Launch On TRON Following $2 Million Investment

Curve Finance, a decentralized liquidity pool for stableswap and stablecoin trading, has disclosed a strategic partnership that will see the decentralized exchange (DEX) launch on the TRON network. 

Curve Set To Launch On Tron And BTTC Networks

Decentralized Exchange, Curve Finance has solidified its position as the second largest DEX, following the announcement of its integration into the TRON network.

Curve Finance’s recent alliance with the TRON network has prompted a substantial investment from TRON DAO Ventures, a venture capital firm established by the TRON network. On Thursday, August 17, TRON Founder, Justin Sun purchased $2 million worth of CRV, the native token of the DeFi protocol. 

Similarly, Curve Finance has stated that it will be launching on the BitTorrent Chain (BTTC) network, a peer-to-peer network blockchain scaling solution for file and data sharing. The Integration of the protocol into TRON DAO and BTTC networks aims to fuel the development of innovative DeFi projects and the growth of DeFi ecosystems. 

Curve Finance is widely known for its role in stable coin trading by providing low slippage exchanges through automated market maker (AMM) algorithms. By aligning with the protocol, TRON  and BTTC will benefit from lower financial costs and indirect backing from prominent blockchains Curve DAO supports including Avalanche, Ethereum, and Arbitrum.

Justin Sun welcomed the newly formed alliance with enthusiasm. He commented that Curve Finance plays a pivotal role in the DeFi ecosystem and blockchain industry and looked forward to new innovative solutions promoted by the partnership. 

“Curve is an essential DeFi infrastructure for the blockchain industry. Our thoughts are with the team and the users affected. As a community, let’s support and strengthen the security measures to protect our decentralized ecosystem,” Sun stated. 

Curve (CRV) price chart from Tradingview.com (TRON DAO)

Compensation For Hack Victims Following Tron Alliance

The decentralized finance (DeFi) landscape was previously shaken up following news of a hack on the DEX. On July 30, Curve Finance fell victim to a reentrancy attack that exploited vulnerabilities in its smart contract codes, resulting in a loss of $62 million. 

Following the news of the hack attack, the CRV token declined and the majority of the DeFi ecosystem was in panic. However, Curve Finance has reportedly recovered 70% of the funds and to recover the rest of the stolen funds, the protocol has placed a bounty on the attacker, promising $1.85 million to anyone able to reveal the hacker’s identity. 

Curve Finance has also promised to compensate victims of the security breach. The DEX has stated that it will distribute reimbursements fairly as they determine the extent of damages and work toward recovering the stolen funds. 

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TRON’s Justin Sun’s Reassures Crypto Community That Huobi Exchange Is Solvent

In a recent development, Justin Sun, founder of popular blockchain Tron, has urged people to disregard speculations that the crypto exchange Huobi is facing severe challenges following news of the alleged detention of some of the platform’s officials. 

The rumors appear to be a major contributing factor to why the firm experienced multi-million withdrawals during the weekend, while Tron’s Total Value Locked (TVL) has fallen below $2.5 billion. 

Trouble In Paradise?

Over the past weekend, cryptocurrency exchange Huobi experienced massive outflows worth about $64 million amid reports that Chinese authorities were investigating its executives and the likelihood of insolvency.

There were speculations that the platform’s leaders were arrested on the 5th of August in China. According to popular Chinese reporter Colin Wu, the arrest was due to Huobi’s involvement with gambling websites. One top official of the exchange also recently left the company, though it remains unclear if that was connected to the ongoing investigations by Chinese authorities.

A third of the $64 million is believed to be made up of Bitcoin (BTC), while Tron’s native token (TRX) and Huobi Token (HT) follow respectively at 26.5% and 20.3%. The rumors were so rife that the withdrawals triggered serious volatility in HT’s price and the token fluctuated during the weekend before settling at its present level of about $2.66.

Furthermore, there are also rumors that the exchange is undergoing protracted financial challenges. According to Adam Cochran, an angel investor and fintech executive, there are some discrepancies in the platform’s Tether (USDT) holding. 

Based on on-chain data, Huobi held less than $90 million of assets on the 5th of August. However, their recent “Merkle Tree Audit” claims they hold $630 million in USDT. 

Cochran believes this means that Huobi might be insolvent, implying the platform may not have sufficient funds to meet its obligations.

Huobi Token (HT) price chart from Tradingview.com

Huobi Reacts To Speculations

In response to the speculations, Justin Sun, who serves as an Advisor to the exchange, recently took to his Twitter account to offer some clarifications. In a series of tweets, he asked users to “ignore FUD, keep! #TRON  and Huobi will thrive through continuous development. Trust in our vision and community efforts for a stronger future. Perseverance guarantees success!”

Many users simply responded by posting the figure “4” below his tweet. The figure, which was popularized in the crypto space by Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao, Binance CEO, simply means “Ignore FUD, fake news, attacks, etc.” 

This is not the first time Sun and his team are facing serious troubles. In the past, there have been rumors of financial troubles at the exchange. However, it remains to be seen what the likely fallout would be in the most recent event.

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Curve Impressively Adds 22% As Founder Sells CRV To Repay Aave Loan

CRV, the governance token of Curve, a decentralized exchange for stablecoins and a key player in the decentralized finance (DeFi) landscape, has impressively recovered, adding 22% after sinking to its August 2023 lows this week.

When writing on August 3, CRV is trading at $0.59, rising double digits after dropping to $0.48 on August 1 following a damaging hack that saw liquidity providers in several pools lose funds. 

Whales Stepping In To Buy CRV

This recovery is attributed primarily to strategic actions by notable crypto whales who have stepped in to mitigate risks on DeFi should CRV prices continue to tank. Meanwhile, Michael Egorov, the founder of Curve and one of the largest CRV holders, has been actively unloading tokens in the secondary market.

Egorov is selling to whales like Justin Sun, the founder of Tron, and other venture capitals and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). The founder held around 292 million CRV and used a big percentage to back his loans.

On-chain data indicates that on August 2, Egorov sold 3.75 million CRV tokens to Yearn Treasury and another 1.25 million CRV tokens to Stake DAO Governance via the over-the-counter (OTC) market.

Egorov has, overall, sold 59.5 million CRV to various institutions and investors, yielding approximately $23.8 million. These OTC sales are at significant discounts, reflecting the founder’s efforts to stabilize CRV prices and prevent further contagion.

CRV price on August 3| Source: CRVUSDT on Binance, TradingView

The July 30 hack saw attackers steal funds from several liquidity pools after exploiting a re-entrancy flaw. JPEG’d, Alchemix, Pendle, and Metronome pools suffered losses initially estimated at around $70 million. However, other reports suggest that white hat hackers intervened, reducing the total impact to approximately $50 million. 

Following this news, CRV prices dropped by over 12%. Considering Curve’s prominence in DeFi, the hack and price crash caused reverberation throughout Curve and DeFi, especially in decentralized money markets. 

Curve Is A Big Player In DeFi, Egorov Paying Off Debt

Curve manages over $2 billion as total value locked (TVL), according to DeFiLlama. While there are no confirmed repercussions on other protocols, attention swung to Egorov’s $60 million Aave v2 loan, which was primarily backed by CRV. Should this loan be liquidated, it would likely mean more selling pressure on CRV, leading to another possible contagion, especially for other CRV holders with loans across different protocols.

Looking at on-chain data, Egorov is taking active steps to reduce the risks brought about by his huge Aave loan that’s overly collateralized by CRV. Egorov aims to minimize the potential consequences of forced liquidation through off-market transactions, where he is selling his CRV at a discount and simultaneously repaying his loan. This, in turn, appears to be supporting prices.

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Justin Sun Will Now Publicly Trade Meme Coins Like PEPE, Best Time To Copy Trade Him?

Justin Sun, the vocal crypto supporter and co-founder of Tron and chief executive officer (CEO) of BitTorrent, says he will begin actively trading meme coins like PEPE. 

Justin Sun Eying Meme Coins

In a tweet on May 11, Sun, known for being a crypto whale, actively holding and transferring colossal sums of coins in the past, said he would begin actively trading meme coins and promising projects straight from his public cryptocurrency address. 

However, as a disclaimer, all profits will be donated to charity. 

He also added that though he might decide to buy certain coins and get exposure to a promising meme coin project, the said coin or project, regardless of its potential, may not be listed on Huobi or Poloniex. These are some of the early and most liquid cryptocurrency exchanges listing hundreds of tokens that Sun occupies an influential executive seat.

It is still unclear which project Sun has an eye on. At the same time, it could not be determined which of his crypto addresses the co-founder will use when trading meme coins. 

Although Sun might be the co-founder of Tron, he has not shied from engaging in other projects deployed on public networks like Ethereum and others.

Tron Co-founder Warned By Binance

Following a warning from Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance, the world’s largest exchange by client count and trading volumes, Sun reversed a $56 million transfer he had made in early May. There were concerns that Sun was planning a token grab of SUI, the native currency of the Sui Network. 

WhaleAlert flagged Sun’s bulk $56 million transfer in TUSD. Before Zhao said, Binance would take action if he block-bought SUI from the Binance Launchpool. The exchange clarified that it wanted a fair airdrop to include active retailers and not “just a few crypto whales.” 

Through the Launchpool, users can stake their crypto assets like SUI, providing liquidity, before receiving staking rewards. 

SUI Price On May 11| Source: SUIUSDT On Binance, TradingView

Sun later apologized for the huge transfer, saying it was in error. The real intention, he clarified, was in the market-making of TUSD, a stablecoin. The Tron founder said:

Regrettably, some of our team members were not fully aware of the intended purpose for these funds and inadvertently used a portion of them to participate in exchange campaigns. Upon realizing this error, we immediately contacted the exchange team and arranged for a full refund of the funds.

It is not immediately clear how Sun will proceed in trading and how the community will react to his purchases once he starts picking out worthy meme coin projects. Even so, what’s clear is that his addresses, like those of other influential crypto founders like Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin, will be actively tracked and copied.