Why Margin Calls and Bot Liquidations Are Roiling Crypto

The pain now buffeting DeFi apps was triggered after centralized crypto lenders Celsius Network and Babel froze deposits and the rumored collapse of fund Three Arrows Capital sent crypto prices down by double digits over the course of a week. Celsius had worked with many DeFi apps to earn the high returns it offered. Much of the market turmoil focused on stETH, a token that represents staked Ether on the Ethereum blockchain and counts Celsius as a major holder. Since its launch by decentralized app Lido Finance, stETH has become one of the most popular collateral assets for lending and borrowing in DeFi. But stETH began trading at a deepening discount to Ether’s price, which has led both to liquidations and illiquidity in its trading. About 30% of all stEth stuck on Aave, for example, was from Celsius, according to researcher Novum Insights. Three Arrows Capital, meanwhile, was an investor in Lido, which issued stETh. As tracked by DeFi Llama, the total value locked in DeFi, the amount of crypto in use on apps, plunged to $76 billion on June 24 from $205.7 billion on May 5, just before the Terra blockchain’s implosion set off the year’s biggest crypto crisis so far.