The Solend controversy, Euro Coin and travel panic

News from the crypto world

The weekend was dreary for the crypto market as some of the biggest cryptocurrencies by market cap tumbled sharply. However, the week opened with positive percentages as some speculate that the low prices might have pushed investors into buying. 

Bitcoin fell to €16,000 on Saturday and bounced back to €19,000 on Monday. Similarly, Ethereum fell under €900 on Saturday but managed to climb back to €1,100 on Monday. Some other cryptocurrencies that showed positive point percentages in the 24-hours charts on Monday were Cardano with +7% at €0.47, Solana with around +12% at €34, XRP with + 2.6% at €0.30 and Dogecoin with +4% at €0.05. 

The Crypto Fear & Greed Index is showing extreme fear among investors at 11/100. The index stood extremely low at 6/100 on Saturday and Sunday, and at 11/100 on Monday.

Solend users block attempt to take over a whale account

The crypto market is notorious for its high volatility, but the recent turbulent times have been worrisome even for the most experienced traders. Last week, Celsius froze operations for its users and this week, Solend, the decentralised crypto lending platform based on Solana and governed by its own DAO - Solend DAO, is the one in hot water.

On Sunday, Solend users voted on the controversial governance proposal SLND1. The vote was to determine whether or not the platform should be given the power to take control of a whale account on Solend to “mitigate risk” due to the account’s “extremely large margin position”. 

The position of this whale wallet was deemed to be putting Solend and the users at risk, especially since it accounted for 95% of SOL deposits and 88% of USDC borrows in Solend’s main pool. The situation opened Solend to potential risks, as they explained in the SLND1 proposal: 

“If SOL drops to $22.30, the whale’s account becomes liquidatable for up to 20% of their borrows (~$21M). [...]

This could cause chaos, putting a strain on the Solana network.”

The vote on the proposal ended shortly and with a striking 99.8% votes for “yes”, allowing the takeover. 

However, the proposal was heavily criticised, especially on Reddit and Twitter as the decision to seize a user’s funds is unprecedented in decentralised finance. Many saw the platform’s urge to intervene as contradictory, since DeFi is a space designed to be free from intermediaries. 

Additionally, a wallet paid $700,000 to increase its voting power and voted “yes” on the proposal, ending up constituting 90% of the total votes. This  made many users question whether or not this decision could be truly considered “decentralised” with one wallet holding this much power in the vote. 

A second proposal, named SLND2, passed on Monday and invalidated the first one while also increasing the voting time from 6 hours to a day.

Governance proposal SLND2 has passed.

SLND1 has been invalidated and governance voting time has been increased from 6 hours to 1 day. pic.twitter.com/z0agJV9pOz

— Solend (we're hiring!) (@solendprotocol) June 20, 2022

Circle announces its first euro-backed stablecoin

Circle, the US-based payment technology company behind USDC, has announced its plan to issue their first stablecoin backed by the euro: Euro Coin (EUROC). Euro Coin will start as an ERC20 token and will share the same reserve model as USDC. The company announced the upcoming launch in a press release, which states:

“Euro Coin is a regulated, euro-backed stablecoin issued under the same full-reserve model and built on the same pillars of trust, transparency, and security that have made USDC one of the world's most trusted digital currencies.”

The launch of EUROC is expected to take place at the end of June. 

Even though the news made the headlines, Euro Coin won’t be the first Euro-pegged stablecoin. In fact, Tether Limited, the company behind Tether (USDT), the biggest stablecoin by market cap and third-biggest crypto after Bitcoin and Ethereum, launched its stablecoin backed by the euro, EURt, in July 2021.

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News from the stock market

Stock market performance

The European stock market opened the week with mixed performances, with DAX* and FTSE* posting positive percentages and CAC40* slightly in the red. Monday was mixed also for the US and the Asian stock markets: Chinese stocks* opened in the positive, while the Nikkei* and the SSE saw a slight decrease in price. NASDAQ* and the S&P 500* opened in the green and Dow Jones started off with minor losses. 

Recent earnings reports:

• Azure Power (AZRE): June 21

• Accenture (ACN): June 23

→ Find out about upcoming corporate actions on Bitpanda

Travel panic: flights are getting cancelled 

EasyJet is in trouble. Recently, the airline has been having a hard time with staff shortages and ended up having to cut back on their offer of flights, leaving more travellers stranded after their flights were cancelled. 

The number of flight cancellations between April and June is expected to reach 4,000, and it is likely to double in the trimester July-September.

The issue with flight cancellations and stranded passengers is not limited to EasyJet: according to the British tabloid Daily Star, Wizzair* passengers stranded in Tenerife were told they might have to wait 6 weeks to get a flight home.

The situation is very similar in the United States, where thousands of flights were cancelled only last week, particularly affecting Charlotte airport in North Carolina, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty in the New York City area, and Reagan Washington National Airport in Virginia.

Over the last 30 days, EasyJet* stocks have lost around 23% of their value. Wizzair* and Delta Air Lines* stocks were faced with similar developments, with prices down 38% and 23% in the 30-day charts respectively.

Check out the price developments of your favourite cryptocurrencies, stocks*, ETFs* and precious metals on our app for iOS and Android or on our web app. Check our Bitpanda Blog and follow our social media channels to always be up to speed. Don’t forget to subscribe to the official Bitpanda YouTube channel for our weekly recaps and video content. 

Disclaimer

This article does not constitute investment advice, nor is it an offer or invitation to purchase any digital assets.

This article is for general purposes of information only and no representation or warranty, either expressed or implied, is made as to, and no reliance should be placed on, the fairness, accuracy, completeness or correctness of this article or opinions contained herein. *Bitpanda Stocks are contracts replicating an underlying stock or ETF. More information and the PRIIPs key information document (KID) are available at bitpanda.com.