Bitcoin briefly trades above $24,000 on Waves DEX as users jump ship

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Bitcoin briefly traded above $24,000 on the Waves blockchain-powered WX network as holders rushed to swap their coins and withdraw their money from the decentralized exchange.

The rush to exit was sparked after DEX saw a number of its token withdrawal gateways shut down for an upgrade, including those for bitcoin and tether. Traders could deposit crypto on the exchange but could not withdraw it. Those who panicked at the news sought to sell their tokens at high prices in order to buy tokens whose withdrawal gateways were still open, namely the Waves token.

Sasha Ivanov, the founder of Waves, announced that the gateways were closed as they were being updated as developers worked on the blockchain bridges. However, the panic may have been compounded due to Waves-backed algorithmic stablecoin Neutrino (USDN) losing its peg and crashing. The coin started falling after major South Korean exchange Upbit warned investors that the USDN was not pegged properly.

The USDN now sits around $0.58 at the time of writing. Ivanov reiterated that a potential USDN collapse will have no effect on the Waves ecosystem or the DEX and that his protocol is also being updated. Ivanov plans to over-collateralize USDN by 300% with Waves tokens.

Obviously, South Koreans can be wary of algorithmic stablecoins and related tokens following the implosion of Luna and the Terra network, which were led by South Korean citizen Do Kwon. Kwon is now on the run – he was last spotted in Serbia.

Read more: Crypto exchange Upbit sued for delaying LUNA transfer while Terra crashed

How does Waves Dex compare to others?

After the crash of FTX in November, the volume of decentralized exchanges saw a surge. However, at the end of the year, this eased with liquidity in all markets. Decentralized exchanges allow traders to trade their tokens between peers, but are hampered by the lack of a fiat on-ramp.

The Waves DEX is small compared to its peers – it is currently listed as the 49th largest DEX on Defi Lama – and due to USDN fears it has seen mostly exits recently. It saw its volume drop from over $3 million on Friday to just $400,000 on Sunday. Total trading volume across all DEXs on Sunday was around $1.44 billion, with the largest volume (around $800 million) going through the Uniswap exchange.

Waves DEX has a public order book that allows users to see everyone’s orders. This differs from Uniswap which keeps its backlog private. With a public order book, traders have greater flexibility and trading options, especially since they can modify their market orders based on other available market orders.

The Waves token currently has a market cap of $166 million and is down 99% from its all-time high. In April of this year, Waves briefly hit the $60 mark before falling back to $4. It first broke above $10 in 2017 and then stayed below $2 through 2020. In 2021 it moved back above $10 and as of this writing item, the price was hovering around $1.50.

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