Because the mud settles on the cataclysmic collapse of the Terra ecosystem, an on-chain deep-dive carried out by blockchain analytics agency Nansen highlights two main takeaways.
The cryptocurrency ecosystem was awash with various speculatory theories round the reason for Terra’s algorithmic stablecoin UST’s decoupling from its $1 peg. The who and why appeared a thriller however the end result was catastrophic, with UST dropping nicely under $1 whereas the worth of Terra’s stablecoin token plummeting in worth consequently.
Nansen undertook an investigation leveraging on-chain information from the Terra ecosystem to the Ethereum blockchain in an effort to chart the chain of occasions that led to the UST depeg.
It’s price noting that the report doesn’t embrace potential off-chain occasions that would have exacerbated the state of affairs, impression on buyers, breakdown of web losses between wallets, and what occurred to Bitcoin (BTC) reserves backing UST.
Attackers preyed on shallow Curve liquidity to take advantage of arbitrage alternatives
The primary and largest takeaway was Nansen’s identification of a small set of addresses or gamers that recognized vulnerabilities within the Terra ecosystem. These actors preyed on the comparatively shallow liquidity of Curve swimming pools backing the TerraUSD (UST) peg to different stablecoin and moved to capitalize on arbitrage alternatives.
The report outlines how these actors withdrew UST funds from the Anchor protocol on Terra. These funds had been then bridged from Terra to Ethereum making use of the Wormhole infrastructure.
Huge quantities of UST had been then swapped with varied stablecoins in Curve’s liquidity swimming pools. Nansen then speculated that through the depegging course of, a number of the recognized wallets exploited discrepancies between pricing sources on Curve in addition to decentralized and centralized exchanges by taking shopping for and promoting positions throughout exchanges.
Nansen’s report refuted a speculative narrative {that a} single attacker or hacker labored to destabilize UST.
Seven wallets central to UST’s depeg
Nansen blockchain evaluation adopted a grounded principle strategy that recognized related transaction quantity information between Might 7 and 11 – the timeframe wherein UST misplaced its $1 peg.
The agency reviewed social media and discussion board threads to slim down that individual time-frame, highlighting outstanding transaction circulate on Curve liquidity swimming pools – which led to its three-phase analytical strategy.
Part one concerned evaluation of transactions out and in of the Curve lending protocol, which allowed Nansen to compile an inventory of wallets whose actions counsel a big impression on the UST depegging.
Part two was barely extra sophisticated, as Nansen noticed transactions throughout the Wormhole bridge that will have influenced the depeg occasion. The agency reviewed outflows of UST from the Anchor protocol involving a narrowed-down listing of wallets. This was adopted by investigating the sale of UST and USDC on centralized exchanges.
Associated: Exchanges again ‘Terra 2.0 revival plan’ by way of airdrops, itemizing, buyback and burning
The ultimate section concerned triangulating on-chain proof to kind a story of the occasions across the UST depeg. An inventory of seven wallets was then highlighted which might be believed to have been central within the Terra ecosystem collapse.
The Nansen report supplies some attention-grabbing insights pushed by blockchain analytics. The core ‘why’ stays a thriller although – with the agency opting to not speculate on the potential targets or motivations behind the seven important addresses that performed a significant function in triggering the depeg of the UST algorithmic stablecoin.
