Crypto exchange dYdX increases margins after $9m loss

Decentralized cryptocurrency exchange dYdX has introduced new measures to reduce trading risks after burning $9 million of its insurance fund on Nov. 17 to cover users’ losses.

According to the statement, the crypto exchange has increased margin requirements in several “less liquid markets.”

This affected the following tokens: Eos (EOS), 0x Protocol (ZRX), Aave (AAVE), Algorand (ALGO). Internet Computer (ICP), Monero (XRM), Tezos (XTZ), Zcash (ZEC), SushiSwap (SUSHI), THORChain (RUNE), Synthetix (SNX), Enjin (ENJ), 1inch Network (1INCH), Celo (CELO), Yearn.finance (YFI), Uma (UMA).

dYdX introduced its insurance fund to cover user losses on Nov. 17. Before this, a profitable trade targeting long positions in the YFI token resulted in nearly $38 million in positions being liquidated.

Last night about $9m from the dYdX v3 insurance fund were used to fill gaps on liquidations processed in the YFI market. The v3 insurance fund remains well funded with $13.5m in funds remaining

No user funds were affected and our team is working to investigate the event

— dYdX (@dYdX) November 18, 2023

dYdX founder Antonio Giuliano called the move a “targeted attack” on the exchange.

This was pretty clearly a targeted attack against dYdX, including market manipulation of the entire $YFI market

We are investigating alongside several partners and will be transparent with what we discover https://t.co/djWHaaPIua

— Antonio | dYdX (@AntonioMJuliano) November 18, 2023

The Yearn.finance team did not disclose any official incident details. Arkham Intelligence specialists noted that the YFI price drop of approximately 40% that occurred the day before led to the liquidation of positions on dYdX for $50 million.

YFI’s price collapsed by almost 40% last night.

As this occurred, $50M of YFI Open Interest on dYdX was wiped out. Before that, dYdX made up almost half of the total open interest on YFI. pic.twitter.com/qZBDOeELGX

— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) November 18, 2023

Experts noted that YFI is rarely traded on dYdX, but the sharp price surge over the past few days has led to open interest peaking at $60 million. The value was half of the total for the asset.