Crisis at DeFi Giant Curve Eases After Justin Sun and Others Step In With Help

Justin Sun, the founder of the Tron blockchain, stepped in to protect against a possible bad debt situation stemming from falling curve (CRV) token prices that could impact a massive loan tied to Curve Finance founder Michael Egorov.

Blockchain data from Tuesday shows Sun purchased about 5 million CRV from a wallet tagged “Curve.fi Founder” at an average price of $0.4 in an over-the-counter transaction. This amounts to just over $2.3 million. While Sun paid well below curve’s $0.59 trading price at writing time on Tuesday, it is more than the $0.37 price level at which Egarov’s loan could be liquidated.

“Excited to assist Curve!,” Sun tweeted Tuesday. “As steadfast partners, we remain committed to providing support whenever needed.”

Read more: Curve Founder’s $168M Stash Is Under Stress, Creating a Risk for DeFi as a Whole

“Our joint efforts will introduce an @stusdt pool on Curve, amplifying user benefits. Together, we aim to empower the community and forge decentralized finance,” Sun added. stUSDT is described as the “first real-world asset protocol on the Tron Network.”

Blockchain data shows several other DeFi players stepped in to pick up discounted crv tokens via OTC trading shortly after Sun's purchases. Crypto investor Jeffrey Huang, known online as Machi Big Brother, bought 3.75 million tokens, while crypto fund DWF Labs and DeFi protocol bought 2.5M curve each.

Egorov sold a total of 39.25 million crv tokens via OTC and received $15.8 million as of European noon hours on Tuesday.

Curve Finance, a stablecoin swapping giant, suffered a Sunday exploit that drove down the price of the CRV token, putting a $168 million stash of Egorov's money at risk of being liquidated. This created bearish sentiment for the tokens among traders alongside concerns that liquidated assets would have to be sold into a market where prices are already falling.

The liquidation of such a large position could have put pressure on other DeFi protocols because CRV is used as a trading pair and ballast in trading pools across the ecosystem.

But wealthy participants like Sun are stepping up to community acclaim, and to possibly protect their own outsized token holdings from being hit.