WAVES, the eponymous blockchain native token and a DeFi altcoin project, dropped as much as 18 percent overnight as FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) spawned amid growing allegations of market manipulation. A new management proposal to prevent short selling of the token has also been harshly criticized by the crypto community. Here are the details…
Things are mixed for DeFi altcoin WAVES: It fell almost 20 percent
As the chart below shows, WAVES fell 18 percent to $44.09 as it retraced some of its recent gains. As we reported as Kriptokoin.com, the token increased exponentially in late March and doubled its value. Thus it largely outstripped the wider market. However, allegations emerged that this rally was made by the project itself, through the lending platform Vires.
Founder Sasha Ivanov denied the allegations, while Vires began to experience mass purges after the news. According to the data, the total value locked on the platform fell nearly $300 million in two days to $972 million. The sharp drop in liquidity has also hit Neutrino (USDN), Blockchain’s dollar-pegged stablecoin. The token hit a record low of $0.91.
Ivanov accuses Almeda Research
In a series of tweets, Ivanov accuses crypto trading firm Almeda Research of running a “short sale”, a smear campaign to make shorting more profitable . Almeda, founded by FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, denied the allegations, while some people, including Fried, criticized Ivanov for spreading “conspiracy theories.” But the main source of controversy over WAVES was Ivanov’s proposal for a new management proposal aimed at limiting interest rates for WAVES and USDN borrowing from Vires and deposits on the platform.
The offer has been widely criticized given that it only benefits certain traders with large USDC loans on the platform. The proposal was met with skepticism given that Ivanov was recently accused of borrowing USDC from his platform to raise WAVES prices. Following the mass liquidations, Vires appears to have depleted the USDC and USDT stablecoin supply. Users of the platform complain of not being able to withdraw their USDC/USDT deposits.
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