TLDR Crypto 2022-06-14

Binance temporarily paused bitcoin withdrawals due to stuck transactions causing a backlog. Users were able to withdraw bitcoin on other networks such as BEP20 and ERC20 during the pause. The pause was caused by a batch of transactions getting stuck due to low transaction fees. Bitcoin withdrawals resumed around three hours after the pause started.

Tron's stablecoin USDD lost its peg to the US dollar on Monday. Many investors are looking to short Tron's native TRX token on Binance. Justin Sun will deploy $2 billion to fight the traders. USDD is an algorithmic stablecoin that uses a similar automated balancing mechanism to Terra's UST. It is collateralized by cryptocurrencies such as TRX and BTC and stablecoins like USDT and USDC.

There are three stages of a bear market. The first stage is when the excitement from the bull market still exists and things still feel alright. The second stage is when prices fall heavily and people are forced to sell. This is the stage we are currently in. The third stage is when there are no longer bounces or narratives and prices consolidate sideways or slowly move down. Crypto is about building an open, permissionless world, which will take decades. It is important to take a look at the bigger picture during bear markets.

Celsius provides regulated access to loans and yield without exposing users to the underlying positions or the inconveniences of self-custodied crypto. Its promise of sky-high yields and its veneer of legitimacy allowed it to pursue risky trading strategies with investor funds. Celsius' use of on-chain leverage and stETH have combined to put the company in a bind. It owes a lot of money and doesn't have the reserves to repay its loans. Instead of trying to repay its loans, Celsius has started to top up its collateral with the hope of making it all back in one trade.

A Sybil attack is when a user creates multiple identities to exploit a protocol or get undue influence over a network. Sybil attacks can affect governance votes, NFT mints, airdrops, exclusive token sales, network security, privacy, and more. This Twitter thread discusses Sybil attacks and the systems vulnerable to them. It suggests ways to prevent Sybil attacks, such as increasing the cost of identity creation, using social trust graphs, or creating a reputation system.

Insolvency is when a party is unable to pay debts as they are becoming due. There are two types of insolvency. Cash flow insolvency is when the party has the funds to pay the debt but is unable to due to timing. Balance sheet insolvency is when the party doesn't have enough assets to cover all of its liabilities. Celsius is insolvent, but it hasn't publicly disclosed what type of insolvency it is facing and the steps they intend to take.

This Twitter thread contains a list of wallets that are supposed to belong to Celsius. There is still roughly $1.5 billion sitting in the wallets. The list may not be complete and there may be mistakes. A link to another source with Celsius wallet data is available.

Ethereum's price briefly hit $950 on Uniswap overnight after a whale dumped more than 65,000 ETH into the market. The average sell price was nearly $1,156 per ETH and the seller paid nearly $152,000 in fees for the sale. The price on other exchanges was around $1,300 at the time. They later sold another 27,947 ETH at an average price of $1,181 each. The ETH was sold to pay off debt and decrease risk on the DeFi lending platform MakerDAO.

Lending platform Nexo has announced its interest in buying Celsius' collateralized loan portfolio. Celsius has paused fund transfers for its nonaccredited investors. It claims that it is working to restore withdrawals, Swap, and transfers between accounts as soon as possible. Nexo is also interested in acquiring Celsius' brand assets and customer database. Nexo currently has $6.2 billion in customer liabilities and holds assets in excess of that amount.