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The Pulse: Unlike Luna, Ethena is at least willing to discuss the risks.

The first time I heard about people passionate about Luna and UST was when I attended a weekly gathering in London. They claimed that the coin continues to rise and that UST is being used by Korean citizens to pay for groceries.

At the time, I was skeptical to say the least. Stablecoins based on other tokens that could go to zero at any point seemed insecure at best. One of my biggest regrets as a journalist is that I didn’t look into this issue more deeply and consider the risks in more detail. But even if that were the case, any article would have been discarded by the self-proclaimed Lunatics, a pseudo-group formed around the capital.

“Hello, this is the 69th time I’ve heard CT influencers talk about UST depegging. Or maybe we’ll remember that we’re all poor now and go for a run instead.” volume Posted in Before the stablecoin collapse — it was one of many arrogant posts about the status of the project that he would later regret.

After Luna and UST collapsed and were valued at up to $40 billion, many people were skeptical about projects that vaguely resembled such stablecoins. Therefore, a kind of stablecoin project Athena this one

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As it began to gain momentum, comparisons were made.

Ethena is a complex beast. At first glance, it looks like a high-yield stablecoin, as suggested by UST. But in reality, as The Block Research points out, it’s more of a combination of a structured product and a stablecoin, potentially split based on whether or not you own tokens.

When I spoke with Ethena’s founder, Guy Young, alias Leptokurtic, last February, he said the worst-case scenario for the project was counterparty risk. This means that there is a possibility that funds stored in institutional grade custodians such as Fireblocks and Copper may be lost for any reason. He expressed willingness to discuss what could go wrong, saying at the time, “I think the worst that could happen is if one of the trustees of the institution has a major problem and essentially loses the assets.”

Along with this, Ethena is much more transparent and open about potential risks. For example, the FAQ page details seven risks facing the project, from funding rates to exchange failures and even regulatory issues (admittedly, considering that the project relies on the efforts of several third parties to provide revenue) Seems worth it). . We examine each issue in detail and explain how to monitor specific risks.

So while the question of Ethena’s risk profile is very complex and the subject of much debate about face criticism To point out potential defects. And you could argue that this is progress.

Now let’s take a look at some of the stories that caught my attention this week.

No, DOJ did not move the 30,000 Bitcoin to Coinbase.

Several large cryptocurrency news sites reported that the Department of Justice (DOJ) sent 30,000 BTC to Coinbase last week. It’s just that the numbers weren’t accurate.

As the Block Covered in real time, the DOJ wallet sent a test transaction of 0.0001 BTC to a wallet marked as belonging to Arkham’s Coinbase Prime. The remaining funds were sent to the changed address, meaning that virtually all possibilities remained the same. Right away, 2,000 BTC has been sent Send remaining funds to the changed address with the same Coinbase wallet.

The Bitcoin blockchain is a bit complicated to follow, but broadly this means that 2,000 BTC will go to Coinbase and the rest will likely remain in the same wallet (albeit with a different public key).

Although somewhat confusing, this seems important to note because it represents the difference between the government selling $132 million of Bitcoin and $2 billion.

Wormhole hackers were initially eligible for airdrops.

Cross-chain protocol Wormhole initially assigned its tokens to the 2022 $323 million hack behind it.

About four addresses involved in the hack were allocated 31,600 W tokens, worth about $38,000.

The tokens were initially allocated to this address, but have now been removed from allocation, according to sources familiar with the situation.

Large donors support Alliance’s third fund.

Brevan Howard Digital, the cryptocurrency arm of a global asset management giant, and Galaxy Digital, a cryptocurrency company founded by billionaire Mike Novogratz, are both part of the cryptocurrency accelerator Alliance. , wrote Yogita Khatri in a recent scoop.

Alliance Fund III first closed in February and received $20 million worth of commitments from Brevan Howard Digital and Galaxy Digital. Each company has already invested $10 million in the fund.

Fund III expects to raise an additional $80 million by July, capped at $100 million. It is expected to invest $500,000 per startup.


Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet delivering news, research and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor in The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the cryptocurrency space. Cryptocurrency exchange Bitget is an anchor LP of Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to provide objective, impactful and timely information about the cryptocurrency industry. Below are our current financial disclosures.

© 2023 The Block. All rights reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not provided or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial or other advice.

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