3rd July 2022 > > KuCoin.

tl;dr

KuCoin rumours are most worrying.

Market Snap (at time of writing)

Market Wrap

Perpetual futures funding rates reflect a mood of despondency and gloom for the week ahead.

Occasional Series – Elton John at Vicarage Road

For the latest Curious Cryptos’ away day, some key employees are so very lucky to be going to see Elton John play live at the home of Watford football club today.

Sundays just do not get any better than that!

Oh, apart from Norman Jay playing Middle Row at Campo Sancho. Sadly, not this year I have just found out. My costume will have to wait until 2023.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Crikey, we do not need this

Rumours are swirling that KuCoin, one of the larger crypto exchanges, is on the verge of halting withdrawals.

The rumours started on Twitter, blaming the Terra fiasco and the collapse of hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC).

I have used KuCoin a few times, partly to recycle some of the BTC hard forks in 2017, some of which could only be traded on KuCoin, and to occasionally buy alts that again could only be traded on KuCoin. I have never left any cryptos on this exchange, except for residual amounts of KCS, KuCoin’s native token.

KuCoin CEO, Johnny Lyu, has been furiously denouncing these rumours on Twitter:

“Be aware of FUDs! Not sure who's spreading these sheer rumors, and what their intentions are, but #KuCoin

does not have any exposure to LUNA, 3AC, Babel, etc. No “immense suffer” from any “coin collapse”, no plan to halt withdrawal, everything on KuCoin is operating well.”

Which immediately brings to mind the denial by Terra CEO, Do Kwon, that UST could ever lose its peg the morning of the day that UST, and therefore LUNA, got killed.

I am in no position to judge whether Johnny is simply talking his book or not, but much like a bank run – which begins when depositors lose confidence in the bank and withdraw their funds – no centralised exchange could survive wholesale crypto withdrawals from its books.

The collapse of KuCoin would do even greater damage to crypto confidence than the demise of Terra and 3AC.