Earlier this year, Flipside Crypto debuted community-enabled analytics for the exciting Alchemix protocol, including bounties, data, and more.
And while our bounty program may have ended, activity on Alchemix certainly hasn’t — and neither has our data. So, with that in mind, it’s time to take a dive into recent activity and on-chain events on Alchemix. H/t to @0xdef1, who put together the visualizations used in this piece.
The latest on Alchemix
Let’s start by catching up with the latest news on Alchemix. Last time we discussed the platform, Alchemix was a relatively new player on the scene.
In the weeks following its debut earlier this year, Alchemix began making waves as a new lending protocol that raised $4.9M. Its special sauce: loans that repay themselves automatically.
In the weeks and months since, Alchemix has attracted plenty of attention. In June, for example, Alchemix announced the debut of alETH, their synthetic token backed by ETH. This launch, however, also coincided with what the Alchemix team called an “incident with the Alchemix alETH contracts.”
There has been an incident with the Alchemix alETH contracts. Together with the fantastic team at @iearnfinance, we have identified the error and are both working on a post-mortem and a solution to the problem.
— Alchemix (@AlchemixFi) June 16, 2021
Funds are safe.
Most recently, Alchemix announced the addition of alETH to Saddle Finance. This allowed the Alchemix team to avoid a potential conflict of interest on Curve, while also providing users access to an easy-to-use DEX.
On-chain data
How has this recent news impacted activity on-chain? With the help of Flipside’s on-chain data and visualizations from @0xdef1, we can see user behavior on Alchemix.
As we can see in the graph below, deposits into the Alchemist, the primary way users interact with Alchemix, spiked leading up to the launch of alETH on June 2. While there was a slight dip in the number of deposits following the “incident” and pausing of alETH vaults, deposits soon rallied. They peaked at more than $309 million on June 11 and remained above $260 million in the months since.
Somewhat similarly, the supply of alUSD, the stablecoin minted by users taking loans on Alchemix, has skyrocketed in recent months. This is also likely due at least in part to volatility surrounding the launch and pause of alETH.
After suffering a serious downturn in mid-May of this year, likely caused by general volatility in the market, alUSD supply has since hit an all-time high. As we can see below, alUSD supply hit a low point of $205.4 million on May 2 before rising to more than $274 million the next day.
Supply levels held steady at roughly that number until June 6. That’s when the supply started to rise to its new all-time high of nearly $450 million on June 15. In the months since it’s fallen to roughly $380 million, still higher than any point this year.
Transmuter balance
Interestingly, transmuter balance has not followed these same patterns. Its volatility, however, can also be traced back to issues surrounding alETH.
The Transmuter completes the life cycle of alUSD and backstops the peg by guaranteeing that all outstanding alUSD can be converted 1:1 to DAI. It’s used to turn alUSD to DAI via the proceeds from loan repayments. Then, when that DAI is eventually claimed, the staked alUSD is burned.
As we can see in the graph below, Transmuter balance reached a peak of just under $270 million on May 9. It then tumbled hard to $114.6 million on May 23. The balance increased to hit a new all-time high of roughly $295 million on June 16 before once again quickly falling. This was likely due to the issues with alETH.
Do more with Alchemix data
Want to learn more about Alchemix, and get in on the discussion for yourself? Join more than 2,000 fellow crypto analysts on the Flipside Crypto Discord server today!
And to make sure you keep up with the latest news, analysis, bounties, and more from Flipside Crypto! Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, the Bounty Brief.