Liquid staking protocol Lido Finance has pushed the big red button in order to activate a protocol safety feature called "Staking Rate Limit" after more than 150,000 Ether was staked with the protocol in a single day. Lido is a liquid staking solution for digital assets, in this case allowing users to stake Ether (ETH) without them needing to have their tokens locked. When a user deposits Ether, Lido issues them a liquid variant of ETH, known as staked ETH (stETH), giving users staking rewards for each day the tokens are held in their wallets. Lido protocol has registered its …

In a joint statement released by three United States federal agencies, the banking sector was advised against creating new risk management principles to counter liquidity risks resulting from crypto-asset market vulnerabilities. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) released a statement reminding banks to apply existing risk management principles when addressing crypto-related liquidity risks. The joint statement highlighted the key liquidity risks associated with crypto-assets and related participants for banking organizations. The risks highlighted concern the unpredictable scale and timing of deposit inflows …

The Bank of Canada has released a working paper that examines lending protocols in decentralized finance (DeFi) with regard to sources of instability and their relation to crypto asset prices. Its findings point to potential ways to optimize DeFi lending platforms, or possibly the practical limits of decentralization. The authors of the paper, titled “On the Fragility of DeFi Lending” and released Feb. 22, acknowledged the inclusiveness DeFi offers and the advantages of smart contract protocols over the use of human discretion. They went on to identify the systemic weaknesses of DeFi. Information asymmetry, a key issue for regulators, was …

The Proof of Stake Alliance (POSA), a nonprofit industry alliance, has published two white papers examining on the status of deposit tokens in United States securities and tax law on Feb. 21. The papers were authored by representatives of over 10 industry groups. Liquid staking is the practice on blockchains using a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism of issuing transferrable receipt tokens to show ownership of staked crypto assets or rewards accrued for staking. The tokens are often referred to as liquid staking derivatives, which is a term the POSA objected to as being inaccurate, recommending that they be called liquid staking …

The DeFi space, a vibrant branch of the blockchain industry, continues to grow and develop despite the bearish conditions experienced in 2022. Revolutionary DEXs are transforming the crypto trading scene, and decentralized solutions are increasingly finding application in the traditional economic space. However, the DeFi ecosystem still faces various challenges due to its early stages of development. These include liquidity inefficiency, security concerns and regulatory uncertainties. To address these challenges, the key lies in creating trading platforms that offer deep liquidity pools, enabling trades to be executed efficiently and promptly. Better access to liquidity and public goods with Crescent The …

The popularity of liquid staking derivatives (LSDs) has increased significantly in recent months resulting in a surge in cash flow in DeFi. LSDs are a relatively new type of token that enables stakers to augment potential returns by unlocking liquidity for their staked cryptocurrency, such as ETH. LSDs have been exploding in popularity across the Ethereum ecosystem and have the potential to become equally as widespread among other Layer-1 networks, such as Polygon and Avalanche. LSDs are already playing a significant role in DeFi, making up over 20% of the entire TVL across liquid staking protocols. The dominance of Lido …

Cryptocurrency lending firm Genesis Global Capital, a subsidiary of crypto conglomerate Digital Currency Group, is reportedly preparing to file for bankruptcy as early as this week. According to a Jan. 18 Bloomberg report, Genesis previously said it was considering a bankruptcy filing if it were unable to raise cash amid a liquidity crunch — a situation similar to that preceding crypto exchange FTX’s Chapter 11 filing in November. Citing people with knowledge of the situation, Bloomberg reported Genesis could file for bankruptcy as soon as this week. The report followed the United States Securities and Exchange Commission announcing on Jan. …

The new management of the bankrupt FTX exchange has identified $5.5 billion in assets that can be used to repay creditors, sparking fears a large swathe of crypto assets could be dumped on markets. On Jan. 17, FTX debtors identified $3.5 billion in crypto assets with $1.6 billion associated with the bankrupt exchange. The best known holdings are Solana's SOL and FTX exchange token FTT, along with liquid assets including XRP, DOGE, Aptos (APT), Polygon (MATIC), TON, and BitDAO (BIT). Liquidators valued the tokens at the time of the bankruptcy petition. Cinneamhain Ventures partner, Adam Cochran, commented: “So liquidators were …

Things seem to be going from grim to grimmer at Silvergate Bank, with a hit to its Moody’s rating and a selloff by Ark Invest. The bank already experienced a run and has been tied to the FTX collapse. Ark Invest, the investment vehicle of Cathy Wood, sold off more than 400,000 shares of parent company Silvergate Capital, worth $4.3 million on Jan. 6, leaving it with a mere 4,000 shares, according to various media reports. Those shares lost 43% of their value the previous day. Moody’s Investors Service also reacted to the situation at the bank, downgrading its ratings …

Many decentralized exchanges boast cross-chain capabilities, but in fact, the majority of them simply use bridging technology to perform swaps. To bring complete decentralization to crypto trading, one exchange has developed a fully cross-chain liquidity aggregation mechanic that does not rely on bridging. Find out more about cross-chain liquidity in the latest Cointelegraph interview with Chainge founder Dejun Qian. Q: What is the biggest problem facing DEXes at the moment, and why is it such a challenge? DEXs have several problems, among which the most notable are: lack of liquidity, inefficient/hazardous interoperability solutions, and user experience. The first two issues …

The Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE) is trading at nearly a 60% discount to the underlying value of its assets, with shares falling 93% from its Jun. 2019 all-time high (ATH). There are many reasons behind the ongoing decline, but in recent weeks fears have grown that fallout from parent company Digital Currency Group’s debt of approximately $1.675 billion to troubled crypto lender Genesis could impact Grayscale assets. YCharts data shows a 59.39% discount at the time of writing, a level the trust has traded at since at least Dec. 28. Crypto Twitter influencer “db” tweeted an image on Jan. 4 …

Bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network agreed to let Bitcoin (BTC) miner Core Scientific shut off more than 37,000 mining rigs it had been hosting for Celsius during the miner’s bankruptcy proceedings. Core Scientific filed a revised proposed order on Jan. 3 which incorporated “revisions acceptable to Celsius” noting “all Celsius rigs will be powered down effective January 3, 2023 and will not be restarted during the transition period.” Previously, Core Scientific accused Celsius of failing to pay its power bills on Oct. 19 citing the non-payment as a major factor leading to its liquidity issues after the Bitcoin miner filed …