By
Mayowa Adebajo
April 25th, 2024
The injection of $5 million from Binance Labs transcends a simple financial transaction; it represents a collaborative effort focused on strengthening Curve’s security infrastructure and aiding the protocol in recovering its stability.
Binance Labs, the investment arm of the world’s largest crypto exchange Binance, has committed a substantial $5 million investment in Curve DAO Token (CRV). The strategic move comes as a response to a recent security breach that rattled the Curve ecosystem. Binance Labs said in its announcement on August 10 that the investment demonstrates its commitment to shaping the future of the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector.
The funds will be used to support Curve’s native token, CRV, which serves as a utility token that regulates all the activities in the Curve protocol. The DeFi platform is renowned as the largest stableswap and the industry’s second-largest decentralized exchange (DEX). With this infusion of funds from Binance Labs, the protocol can further strengthen its foothold and ensure that the platform is tightly packed with security features that make it impenetrable to hackers.
Curve faced a setback due to a vulnerability in its underlying programming language, Vyper. Cybercriminals exploited this vulnerability on July 30, losing $73.5 million from its stable pools. However, the DeFi platform has since recovered around 73% of the stolen funds worth around $52.3 million. The platform recently issued a $1.85 million bounty hunter seeking to expose the hacker who claimed he was smarter than the protocol in an on-chain message on Ethereum.
“I’m refunding you, not because you can find me. It’s because I don’t want to ruin your project. I’m smarter than all of you, f**k!!,” reads the message.
Curve Finance Receives Support from Binance Labs after Hack
The DeFi platform has now received financial support from Binance Labs to help recover from the attack. The injection of $5 million from Binance Labs transcends a simple financial transaction, it represents a collaborative effort focused on strengthening Curve’s security infrastructure and aiding the protocol in recovering its stability. This investment is not solely aimed at addressing vulnerabilities but is geared toward amplifying the platform’s functionalities.
Yi He, Co-Founder of Binance and Head of Binance Labs, referenced the attack while noting that the platform had significantly impacted the adoption of the DeFi apps in 2023.
“Curve is the largest stableswap, and as a key protocol in DeFi, it has contributed to the steady growth of the space in 2023. Given the recent events that have impacted the protocol, Binance Labs has offered our full support to Curve through our investment and strategic collaboration. We view this cooperation as a starting point and look forward to working together to propel the growth of the DeFi ecosystem further.”
Curve to Deploy on BNB Chain
As part of the collaboration with Binance Labs, Curve plans to explore BNB Chain. According to the announcement, the DeFi protocol, which currently operates across several chains, will expand its protocol to the BNB ecosystem. The move will further propel the growth of the BNB Chain DeFi ecosystem.
“BNB Chain has earned a significant presence in DeFi and is well positioned to deploy Curve’s current and future products on its chain. We look forward to collaboratively fostering innovation and growth across the DeFi ecosystem,” said Michael Egorov, founder of Curve.