Crypto Futures Show Bias for Uniswap’s UNI Token After Curve Finance Exploit

“The UNI token [perpetuals] trades at a nearly 20% premium as traders expect Uniswap to gain even more market share after the CRV exploit,” Markus Thielen, head of research and strategy at Matrixport, said in an email.

Funding rates have jumped to an annualized 19%. (Matrixport) (Matrixport)

Late Sunday, Curve, the third-largest DEX, fell victim to a flash loan exploit that put $100 million worth of cryptocurrency at risk. Curve DAO’s native CRV token fell over 15% to $0.63 following the attack. The quick decline introduced additional risk, potentially threatening to liquidate $70 million worth of borrowed position of Curve founder.

Still, the perpetual futures market indicates no signs of panic, with funding rates in CRV and AAVE markets holding above zero.

Funding rates in CRV perpetual futures remain positive after the exploit. (Matrixport) (Matrixport)

“CRV DAO perp futures are still trading at a small premium, indicating that traders are more focused on moving positions away from the DEX (regarding TVL) rather than shorting the token,” Thielen said.

Recommended for you:

• Ether May ‘Inevitably’ Turn Into a Store of Value After Ethereum’s Merge, ConsenSys Economist Says
• Diana Biggs: Building Early-Stage Ventures in Web3
• Who’s Who in the FTX Inner Circle

The total value locked (TVL) locked in Curve Finance fell from $3.2 billion to $1.8 billion following the hack, according to data source DeFiLlama. Meanwhile, the TVL locked in Uniswap has held steady at around $3.8 billion while AAVE’s has declined from $5.85 billion to $5.37 billion.