Stablecoin USDT has temporarily lost its peg to $1
Tether's USDT stablecoin, which holds the leading position by market capitalization, is facing challenges. The token, whose nominal rate is fixed to the US dollar, lost its balance for a short time and fell to $0.994.
The value of the stablecoin fell below $1 after an asset imbalance in 3Pool, a pool of decentralized platform Curve. 3Pool has the third largest trading pool among all existing decentralized exchanges (DEX) in the field of decentralized finance (DeFi) and is the largest in terms of the combined amount of USDT and DAI stablecoins it contains.
Currently, the Uniswap and Curve protocols, which have the largest liquidity pools, are heavily selling USDT. When sellers flood the market, it can drive down the value of even a "stable" currency. Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Tether, confidently stated that the company is ready for any situation and guarantees coverage of any amount, regardless of the token sale volumes.
Luban Update on BNB Chain
The BNB Chain development team has successfully implemented the Luban network update, which has improved the security and stability of transactions. As part of this upgrade, three optimization proposals were implemented: BEP-126, BEP-174, and BEP-221.
Of these, BEP-126 has the biggest impact, introducing the first phase of the FastFinality mechanism, which aims to speed up the block finalization process. It is important to note that this update does not provide a direct increase in transaction speed or reduction in fees.
The relay control mechanism introduced with BEP-174 facilitates the efficient transfer of assets between different blockchains, thus enhancing the security of the BSC Bridge cross-chain bridge. BEP-221, in turn, implements a simplified block validation procedure.
DAI overtakes BUSD in terms of capitalization
The capitalization of Binance USD (BUSD) fell to $4.35 billion, thus giving way to DAI ($4.39 billion) to take the third place in the stablecoin ranking. After hitting a record $23.36 billion in November 2022, BUSD suffered a loss of 81.4% of its capitalization. This sharp collapse coincided in time with the collapse of FTX.
The situation was aggravated in February 2023 by the order issued by the NYDFS to stop issuing a stablecoin, which was addressed to the partner company of the Paxos exchange. This company has stopped issuing new coins and has pledged to support redemption and exchange operations until at least February 2024. The decline in BUSD capitalization continues amid pressure from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Binance.
Compromise between Binance and SEC
Binance and the SEC have reached an agreement to transfer the assets of Binance US clients to individual wallets, control over which will be carried out exclusively by employees of the American exchange.
The intent of this decision is to ensure that Binance Holdings personnel cannot access Binance US customer resources. Binance US will also provide details on its commercial costs shortly. This agreed upon strategy is a compromise solution that prevents Binance US assets from being frozen. However, it still needs to be approved by the court.
Hong Kong regulator invites banks to service crypto companies
The Hong Kong regulator is stepping up pressure on banking institutions, including HSBC and Standard Chartered, to engage them in servicing crypto companies. However, banks are reluctant due to fears that crypto-currency businesses could be used for money laundering, which could lead them to prosecution. The supervisory authority urges financial institutions to overcome their concerns.
Polygon Labs introduced the concept of Polygon 2.0
Polygon Labs has outlined a new concept for a network upgrade package with the goal of transforming Polygon into a "realm of value" in the context of the Internet. According to the developers, the upcoming adaptations contribute to simplifying access to the global economic system. This realm of value on the internet enables decentralized finance, digital ownership, innovative coordination mechanisms, and more, the team highlighted.
In the coming weeks, the development team plans to highlight every element of Polygon 2.0 through a series of posts, AMA sessions, and other tools. Among the announced topics are: the future of the Polygon PoS network, the value and evolution of the main token, the transition to more global management of the protocol and treasury community.
Crypto Bot Records $3.24 Profit From $200M Flash Loan
An arbitrage trading bot used an instant loan of $200 million to complete a series of transactions resulting in a profit of $3.24. According to Arkham Intelligence, the bot used the 'DssFlash' contract from the MakerDAO DeFi platform. Raising DAI is limited to approximately $500 million and there is no commission for this.
The bot then placed assets on Aave V2 borrowing ~$2350 in WETH. This "wrapped ether" was then used to acquire Threshold Network (T) on the Curve platform. After the completion of the arbitrage cycle, the bot sold tokens on the Balancer DeFi platform, making a profit of 0.019 ETH (~$33). Transaction costs and block creator fees reduced the net profit to $3.24.
