Curve Founder Michael Egorov Sells 39 Million CRV to Prevent Liquidation

Curve Founder Michael Egorov Sells 39M CRV

Michael Egorov, co-founder of Curve Finance, has been actively managing millions in DeFi in a bid to evade liquidation risks associated with his significant CRV-backed loans, which total over $90 million. The situation was exacerbated after a $70 million exploit on Curve Exchange sent the price of CRV plummeting 19%, increasing the chances of liquidation as CRV's already battered price came under further pressure. Egorov responded by selling 39.25M CRV, worth $15M, at a substantial discount to prominent crypto figures, including Tron founder Justin Sun, to pay back loans on Fraxlend.

In a strategic move, Egorov has also deployed a new pool on Curve, pairing the exchange’s new crvUSD stablecoin with a token representing FRAX lent against CRV on Fraxlend. The initiative was backed with 100,000 CRV tokens as rewards, attracting nearly $6 million to the pool and dropping the borrowing rate on Fraxlend to 75%.

These activities highlight the intricacies and potential fragility of DeFi markets, with substantial positions and price fluctuations leading to complex financial maneuvers by leading figures in the space. Egorov's actions, however, seem to have steadied his position for now, demonstrating the agile and adaptive nature of decentralized financial platforms.

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Kenya the first country to fully suspend Worldcoin operations

In an official statement shared on Kenya's Ministry of the Interior's Facebook page, it was announced that Worldcoin, the identity crypto protocol co-founded by Sam Altman from OpenAI, has been temporarily suspended. The ministry has taken this action to allow for thorough investigations into the project's legitimacy and data protection services. 

Specifically, concerns have been raised regarding the collection of citizens' eyeball/iris data through the registration process facilitated by an organization known as "WORLD COIN." Minister Kithure Kindiki signed off on this statement and emphasized the government's commitment to addressing these ongoing activities that are deemed worrisome in terms of citizen privacy and security measures.

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Ethereum Futures-based ETFs pushed by six entities 

The U.S. Securities and Exchange (SEC) has received applications from six different entities seeking to launch exchange-traded funds (ETFs) based on Ether (ETH) futures. This comes in the wake of the recent excitement surrounding bitcoin spot ETFs. The first entity to file for such an ETF was Volatility Shares Ether Strategy ETF, which submitted its application on July 28th. Notably, Volatility Shares gained attention in June when it introduced the 2x Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITX), making it the first leveraged cryptocurrency ETF available in the United States.

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BTC rejects $30,000 price level

Bitcoin (BTC) experienced a slight decline on Tuesday as investors processed the outcome of MicroStrategy’s (MSTR) second quarterly earnings report. The leading cryptocurrency dropped approximately 2% on Wednesday, briefly reaching $30,000 for the first time in over a week before retracing its steps. According to data from exchanges, there was a minor increase of around 1.6% in Bitcoin's value late Tuesday; however, this gain was quickly nullified.

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GameStop halts crypto wallet service

GameStop, a major player in the adoption of blockchain-based video games, has encountered a significant obstacle. The company announced on its website that it will no longer provide cryptocurrency wallets due to regulatory uncertainty in the crypto space. 

GameStop stated, "In light of this situation, we have made the decision to remove our iOS and Chrome Extension wallets from circulation." As of November 1st, their services will be discontinued. This development is likely to impede the widespread acceptance and use of blockchain technology within the gaming industry.

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Other breaking news

• Term Finance, a fixed-rate lending protocol, is live on Ethereum
• The SEC sues Richard Heart and his projects Hex, PulseChain, and PulseX
• Balancer is now deployed on Avalanche
• Helium’s second halving starts today
• Coinbase to add BTC Lightning for payments

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Wrapping up

That’s all for today’s edition, ladies and gentleman. Today’s drop covered the meme stock darling GameStop halting services for their crypto wallet. ETH futures ETFs have been picked up by six institutions that have filed their intent with the SEC to launch such ETFs; meanwhile, BTC rejects the $30K price level due to Microstrategy's earnings report. Furthermore, Kenya halted all Worldcoin operations, and the consequences of the Curve hack may be more dire than initially predicted. Stay tuned for more updates in our rapidly evolving space.