Binance Margin, a feature of the Binance cryptocurrency exchange, has announced that it will delist ten isolated margin pairs effective September 14, 2023, at 06:00 (UTC). The pairs to be removed are ALPHA/BUSD, ANT/BUSD, BAL/BUSD, COS/BTC, DGB/BUSD, FIRO/BUSD, OOKI/BUSD, QI/BTC, RVN/BUSD, and TWT/BUSD.
Timeline of Events
The delisting process will follow a structured timeline:
September 4, 2023, at 06:00 (UTC): Suspension of isolated margin borrowing for the affected pairs.
September 14, 2023, at 06:00 (UTC): Automatic settlement of users’ positions and cancellation of all pending orders on the specified pairs.
Users are strongly advised to close their positions and transfer their assets from Margin Wallets to Spot Wallets before September 14, 2023, at 06:00 (UTC). Binance has stated that it will not be responsible for any potential losses incurred during the delisting process.
Implications for Users
The delisting of these margin pairs could have various implications for traders. For one, it limits the options for leveraging assets in the short term. It also necessitates the reallocation of assets for those who have existing positions in these pairs.
Binance delisting actions are generally taken due to low trading volume, regulatory concerns, or technological issues with the assets involved.
Risk Management
The announcement also serves as a reminder for traders to exercise caution and risk management. Users are unable to update their positions during the delisting process, making it imperative to act before the deadline.
One crypto whale says he’s getting ready to “buy tears” amid the ongoing correction in the markets as he bets big on two under-the-radar small-cap altcoins.
In a tweetstorm, the pseudonymous whale known as Crypto Messiah tells his 132,000 followers not to bother trying to buy bottoms and sell tops.
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“You’ll never buy the bottom… and you’ll never sell the top.
Average in/out is the only way to do this. I’m extremely confident that we haven’t seen the last of ‘productive assets.’
I’m also extremely confident that this decentralized finance (DeFi) bear [market] won’t be extended.
I’m here to buy tears.”
Crypto Messiah says that he’s keeping an eye on the DeFi index, which is a weighted average of 25 of the biggest decentralized finance (DeFi) coins, similar to the S&P500 or Dow Jones index.
The whale says that once the DeFi index reaches a final support level down near 6,000, he’ll be looking to go long.
“Here’s my plan… whether it turns out to be a good plan or a bad plan is yet to be seen…
Watching FTX DeFiperp.When/if we get here… people will be in agony.I [will] buy.
Solid confluence between previous lows/bull trend line.2 sigma below yearly vwap (Volume-weighted average price) – hoping for reversion.”
Source: CryptoMessiah/Twitter
The crypto veteran goes on to reveal the only two low-cap altcoins he’s heavily investing when the sell-off takes place.
“Targets for blood buys are ALPHA/ROOK.
Nothing else.
Keeping it concentrated. Watching it closely.”
Alpha Finance (ALPHA) is an ecosystem of DeFi products that aim to address the limited availability of products outside the Ethereum network, as well as the lack of liquidity on decentralized exchanges (DEXs). At time of writing, ALPHA is trading at $0.58 according to CoinGecko.
KeeperDAO (ROOK) is a decentralized organization that provides liquidity to markets of smart-contract-based solutions. At time of writing, ROOK is trading at $148.67 according to CoinGecko.
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As for Bitcoin, it appears Crypto Messiah is still bullish on the king cryptocurrency. Last week, in an episode of Delta-Fi, the analyst claimed that El Salvador would likely be the first domino to fall in a big trend of global Bitcoin adoption.
“It’s the first domino in a string of many disenfranchised nations and then maybe, other countries that are looking to reduce their reliance on US dollars. Coming in and saying like ‘Hey we want to go with Bitcoin. We want to go with a currency for our country that can’t be manipulated, that can’t be controlled…’
It is kind of an interesting situation because I hear that the IMF (International Monetary Fund) is meeting with the president of El Salvador soon, and there’s no way they’re going to be happy about that. So on the positive side of things, this could be like the shot heard around the world. I understand that the GDP (gross domestic product) of El Salvador is pretty much the same as the market cap of Dogecoin (DOGE), but at the same time, the fact that this has happened is huge, and several other nations that have been disenfranchised are following suit.”
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After a rocky first quarter, decentralized finance (DeFi) platform Alpha Homora announced the relaunch of its v2 leveraged yield farming program today — and so far both traders and users are celebrating as both total value locked (TVL) and ALPHA token prices soar.
The version 2 of the platform, which allows for leverage up to 7x on popular yield farming positions on protocols such as Sushi, Curve, and Balancer, notably had to shut down to new positions after a devastating hack in February. The protocol suffered $37 million in losses, which counts among the most devastating exploits in DeFi history.
However, the relaunch so far has gone swimmingly by multiple metrics. The ALPHA token — which underwent a revamped tokeneconomic design during the downtime — is up 11.1% to $2.28 on the day, and TVL has increased by nearly $100 million since the relaunch to a total of $675 million.
#AlphaHomoraV2 now has…
$675M TVL
$500M lent
$170M collateral
$99M borrowed
Though the demand to use the product is high, we’ll maintain security measure that we set out to do by keeping $100M credit limit for now.
Will actively monitor & increase accordingly
— Alpha Finance Lab (@AlphaFinanceLab) May 13, 2021
It now remains to be seen how long the protocol will remain stable. In addition to the February exploit, the platform was tied to Rari Capital’s $11 million loss earlier this week, though that particular exploit was due to no fault on Alpha Finance Lab’s part.
The relaunched v2 also came with a new set of audits, but ultimately the greatest test of a DeFi protocol is time — the longer it’s survived scrutiny from would-be exploiters, the more users can trust its longevity.
Some observers are additionally off-put by Alpha’s unusual model, which has little precedent in Tradfi. However Leo Cheng of C.R.E.A.M. Finance, whose Iron Bank protocol-to-protocol lending platform enables v2’s leveraged yield farming, argued in an interview with Cointelegraph that if flash loans can be a key cog in DeFi’s capital efficiency, leveraged lending is a logical next step.
By nature, says Cheng, a smart contract “doesn’t quite care, and it doesn’t quite see the borders with the smart contract projects” with regards to where funds are coming from. As long as a transaction will end with the various protocols involved in the green, the transaction will go through.
Alpha Finance Labs did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
In the midst of the recent days’ downtrend, there are still open opportunities for profits in the Ethereum ecosystem. Alpha Finance Lab team has announced its tokenomics with staking rewards for its users and new products based on the Alpha Homora protocol:
ALPHA token holders will benefit from the growth of all Alpha products, which include Alpha Homora (vEthereum), Alpha Homora (vBSC), Alpha Homora (v2), AlphaX, and many more innovative Alpha products that we are working on. ALPHA token holders will be an integral part of the growing multi-chain, Alpha ecosystem.
APLHA token holders will be able to earn “ecosystem-wide rewards” based on the core Protocol. Users will also be able to receive rewards regardless of whether Alpha’s product operates on a Layer 1 or Layer 2 solution.
In the announcement, the Alpha Finance Labs team clarified that stakers will be able to unlock new features and earn more rewards with the different “tiers” they have enabled.
5 BTC + 300 Free Spins for new players & 15 BTC + 35.000 Free Spins every month, only at mBitcasino. Play Now!
This is one of the very first times that tokenomics is directly integrated with the usage of the core underlying protocols.
Depending on the amount of ALPHA staked, the user will have access to new tiers that will give them access to earn fees from across the entire ecosystem.
ALPHA stakers will also serve as the backbone of the expanding Alpha ecosystem, as the funds staked will help secure the ecosystem in case additional insurance is needed.
Alpha Finance Lab is excited to announce that $ALPHA Tokenomics (staking and more) will be launching in the coming days! 🔥🔥
ALPHA tokenomics makes value accrual not limited to fees collection from the #Alpha ecosystem, but integral to the usage of the core Alpha protocols.
👇 pic.twitter.com/OoxNO0XrjV
— Alpha Finance Lab (@AlphaFinanceLab) March 23, 2021
Interoperability with Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain
One of the benefits of Alpha Homora protocol’s native token is its interoperability in two major DeFi ecosystems. ALPHA is based on Ethereum’s ERC-20 standard and the Binance Smart Chain’s BEP-20 standard.
Without altering the overall supply of the token, The Alpha Finance Lab team enabled this option in response to the high demand ALPHA has seen. The announcement stated the following:
To meet demand for ALPHA (ERC-20) withdrawal from Binance, we’ll deposit 100M ALPHA (ERC-20) and withdraw 100M ALPHA (BEP-20) through Binance – main bridge between 2 token standards.
In response to the announcements, ALPHA has regained upward momentum and is trading near its all-time high at $2.08. On the one-day chart, ALPHA shows gains of 11.8% with a positive performance of 25.3% in the last week. Capital Allocator for Defiance Capital, Wangarian said on Alpha Homora’s token:
When properly designed, tokens serve to benefit both token holders and the underlying protocol.ALPHAhas one of the most promising tokenomics I’ve seen to date. Incentives from all stakeholders are aligned with clear value accrual to theALPHAtoken.
ALPHA with bullish momentum in the 24-hour chart. Source: ALPHAUSDT Tradingview
DeFi Pulse data indicates that the Alpha Homora protocol has $679 million in Total Value Locked (TVL) with an all-time high of $1.25 billion in this metric. On the last day, the protocol has lost 19.8% of its TVL, a downtrend that has been ongoing for the last 3 months.
In one of the largest exploits of the DeFi era, this morning an attacker successfully drained over $37 million from Alpha Homora by leveraging Cream’s Iron Bank protocol-to-protocol lending platform.
Alpha Finance Lab, whose protocol was audited by Quantstamp and Peckshield, announced on Twitter this morning that they were aware of an attack, that the “loophole” that allowed it had been patched, and that the team had a “prime suspect”:
Dear Alpha community, we’ve been notified of an exploit on Alpha Homora V2. We’re now working with @AndreCronjeTech and @CreamdotFinance together on this.
The loophole has been patched.
We’re in the process of investigating the stolen fund, and have a prime suspect already.
— Alpha Finance Lab (@AlphaFinanceLab) February 13, 2021
The transaction from the exploit is notably complex. The attacker used Alpha Homora to borrow and lend repeatedly with Iron Bank, which allows for leveraged lending. Some analysts have speculated that a faked “spell” (Alpha’s branded term for a smart contract) is what enabled the exploit:
That contract is a faked Alpha Homora spell, Alpha Homora’s system thought it was one of their own;
That “contract” is “owned” by Alpha pic.twitter.com/5OHlWh9Mi1
— Arrundai (@arrundai) February 13, 2021
This “fake spell/contract” exploit conceptually echoes the “evil jar” attack on Pickle Finance that netted an attacker $20 million late last year. In both cases, the exploited protocols errantly responded to faked contracts.
Shortly after the successful exploit, the attacker “tipped” the Alpha and Iron Bank deployers 1,000 Ether each, and also made a Gitcoin donation.
Cream Finance said in a statement on Twitter that the Iron Bank exploit did not impact any of their other contracts, and that their money markets were functioning normally:
C.R.E.A.M. contracts and markets were investigated and found to be functioning as normal. Markets have been re-enabled across both V1 and V2.
Post mortem to follow.
— Cream Finance (@CreamdotFinance) February 13, 2021
Protocol Bailout?
The question now turns to how users will be compensated in the event the protocols cannot pressure their “prime suspect” into returning the funds.
The Yearn.Finance team and MakerDAO set a precedent with “DAOs bailing out DAOs” last week when MakerDAO allowed for the creation of a custom-built collateralized debt position from Yearn’s newly-minted treasury.
While the size of the exploit is larger than the $11 million Yearn suffered, some have speculated that Alpha will likewise print tokens to cover the loss — and some traders and institutions have already positioned themselves for such a dilution.
Intrepid chain activity monitors noticed that Three Arrows Capital sent over $3 million in ALPHA tokens to Binance this morning, possibly with the intention of selling:
Currently, ALPHA, the governance token of the protocol which suffered the losses, is down 20% to $1.83; CREAM, the governance token of the protocol that enabled the exploit, is down 16% to $222; AAVE, the governance token of the protocol that the exploiter used for a flash loan, is down 2% to $505.
ALPHA, the governance token of Alpha Finance Lab, has surged 152% in the past week. It is now the 85th most valuable cryptocurrency in the global market, breaking into the top 100 in a short period.
Behind its meteoric rally are three key factors, namely the rapidly rising total value locked (TVL) of Alpha Homora, the overall positive market sentiment around DeFi, and the imminence of Alpha Homora v2.
Alpha Homora is essentially a protocol that enables users to yield farm using leverage.
The term yield farming means the process of providing liquidity to DeFi protocols to earn sustainable yield or APY. By using leverage, Alpha Homora allows users to provide liquidity to pools more efficiently.
Alpha Homora v2 adds various improvements to the first release. It adds more pool support on top of Uniswap, such as Curve, Balancer, and SushiSwap. This allows users to benefit from a more diverse selection of pools to yield farm.
The v2 also lets users hold up to 9x leveraged positions, borrow multiple assets, and lend or borrow other assets apart from Ethereum, as Band Protocol’s Sawit Trisirisatayawong explained.
Ultimately, Alpha Homora should be useful for the average DeFi user with limited capital who wants to maximize their yield.
AlphaX, the decentralized futures exchange, also aims to be beginner-friendly by removing the manual futures funding rate, and baking it into the price. The two key products in the Alpha Finance Lab ecosystem are both designed to serve casual users in DeFi.
At a market cap of $296 million, ALPHA is arguably considered a blue-chip DeFi asset. But, the price of ALPHA has significant momentum and is continuously rallying.
The optimism around ALPHA stems from the rapid increase in Alpha Homora’s TVL and the active developer community of the project.
Alpha Homora’s $618 million alone could justify a high valuation for ALPHA, by calculating the potential fees the protocol could charge in the future and predicting its cash flow.
The existence of other key products like AlphaX that make Alpha a more extensive DeFi ecosystem has likely made ALPHA more appealing as a long-term DeFi bet.
The pace of growth is optimistic
Alpha Homora is the fastest DeFi protocol to reach a $600 million TVL in the history of the DeFi space.
Alpha Homora growth. Source: Alpha
The top DeFi protocols and lending platforms, like Aave and Curve, took around six months to reach the same TVL.
But while Alpha has admittedly launched as the DeFi space was seeing explosive growth, it is still impressive that it was able to outpace the largest DeFi projects in the space.
Over the longer term, there are several potential catalysts for the price of ALPHA.
Most notably, the official document of Alpha Finance Lab shows that the ALPHA token holders might soon be able to receive a portion of protocol fees through either staking or providing liquidity. The document reads:
“Utility token for all Alpha products (e.g. provide liquidity or stake to receive % protocol fees) (not yet implemented).”
More utility for the ALPHA token should act as a strong catalyst in the longer term, and make the token itself more attractive.
