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YAM's Market Cap Falls From $60M to Zero in 35 Minutes
YAM’s market cap fell to zero just minutes after the co-founder pronounced the yield farming project dead. A rescue plan is now in the cards.
By Paddy Baker
Updated Mar 6, 2023, 3:07 p.m. Published Aug 13, 2020, 9:45 a.m.
Two-day-old DeFi project YAM has seen its market cap evaporate in under an hour as a desperate last-minute attempt to fix a bug in the code ultimately failed.
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- Data from price site CoinGecko shows the total value of YAM collapsed from roughly $60 million at 07:40 UTC to $0 by 08:15 – barely 35 minutes later.
- The price of YAM tokens, which peaked at roughly $167 at 17:30 UTC, had spiraled down to barely $14 at just before 08:00.
- Having only launched Tuesday, YAM was a yield farming protocol where tokens were intended to keep parity with the U.S. dollar through loosening or contracting supply.
- Its relative newness, though, meant the code hadn't been properly audited; a bug was soon discovered that effectively meant the protocol would keep printing "dud" YAM tokens that would prevent token holders from making any governance decisions.
- A last-minute attempt to save the protocol ultimately failed and co-founder Brock Elmore pronounced the project dead at 08:01 UTC.
- Yam's market cap went to zero moments later.
- The project announced a plan to migrate to YAM 2.0 just before press time.
- Crypto exchange Gate.io announced it will reinstate deposits, withdrawals for YAM, with trading set to resume at 14:30 UTC.
See also: Deposits in ‘Monetary Experiment’ Meme Token YAM Break $460M
UPDATE (Aug. 13, 10:45 UTC): This article has been updated to include the Gate.io announcement.
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