Crypto Investment Firm Midas Shutting Down Platform Following Losses
The collapse of Celsius Network and FTX led to more than 60% of Midas’ assets under management being withdrawn.
Dec 27, 2022 at 11:03 p.m. UTC:format(webp)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/coindesk/BOPFVZ4XOFDCTCMMXNZSYCGWOE.jpg)
Midas Investments is closing its DeFi platform. (Getty Images)
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Midas Investments, an investment firm that focused on DeFi (decentralized-finance) yields, is shutting down its platform following its losses this year, according to a blog post from CEO and founder Iakov “Trevor” Levin on Tuesday.
Levin wrote that this past spring, the Midas DeFi portfolio lost $50 million, or 20% of its $250 million in assets under management, and that after the collapse of crypto lender Celsius Network and exchange FTX, 60% of the assets on Midas' platform were withdrawn.
“Based on this situation and current CeFi market conditions, we have reached the difficult decision to close the platform,” Levin wrote, referring to centralized finance.
The company will now focus on a new project that “aligns with our vision for” centralized decentralized finance (CeDeFi), Levin said.
Starting on Tuesday, Midas disabled deposits and swaps, as well as withdrawals, for some time while it makes calculations and balance adjustments. Its target is to deduct 55% from user balances held in bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH) and stablecoins, with the adjustment being compensated for in MIDAS tokens that can be swapped in for tokens of its new project.
“The goal of the new project is to create a win-win situation by connecting competing protocols with liquidity and offering a simplified yield to a range of DeFi and CeFi audiences,” Levin wrote.
Levin is a contributor to CoinDesk.
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