Share this article
DeFi 'Vampire' SushiSwap Still Hemorrhaging Liquidity
Uniswap challenger SushiSwap continues to lose vital liquidity, with total value locked falling by 8% in the past 24 hours.
By Paddy Baker
Updated Sep 14, 2021, 10:02 a.m. Published Sep 30, 2020, 12:27 p.m.
Make us preferred on Google
DeFi trading protocol SushiSwap, which threatened to sap the life out of rival Uniswap just two weeks ago, is still losing crucial liquidity.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
- Data from DeFi Pulse shows total value locked (TVL) in SushiSwap has dropped nearly 8% in the past 24 hours.
- TVL represents the dollar value of the tokens locked into a protocol's smart contracts. While not universally accepted, it's generally considered a key success metric for decentralized finance (DeFi) projects.
- This is particularly true for automated market maker (AMM) exchanges, such as SushiSwap and Uniswap, which rely on users depositing tokens in order to provide liquidity and create the trading experience.
- As such, Wednesday's figures don't make for good reading; SushiSwap has been on a near-uninterrupted decline since mid-September when its creator made off with, and then returned, the dev fund.
- After hitting an all-time high of $1.4 billion on Sept. 12, Sushi's TVL fell by two-thirds to nearly $490 million just a week later.
- While that rate of decline has shallowed, TVL has still fallen a further $130 million to $354 million in the past nine days.
- Wednesday's drop of nearly $50 million is the biggest since TVL fell by $100 million on Sept. 21.
- This marks a significant change in SushiSwap's fortunes, which just weeks ago looked to supersede Uniswap after it took $830 million in vital liquidity.
- However, a $500 million UNI airdrop and concerns over SushiSwap's founder saw most of that liquidity bounce back to Uniswap.
- Indeed, from just $430 million in TVL in mid-September, Uniswap has made a dramatic snapback, becoming the first protocol to break the $2 billion milestone this week.
- In the past 24 hours, Uniswap's TVL has risen by approximately 2%.
See also: UNI Market Cap Rebounds $120M as Rest of Crypto Market Falters
More For You
KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
More For You
How a 'perpetual’ stock trick could solve Michael Saylor’s $8 billion debt problem
The bitcoin treasury firm is using perpetual preferreds to retire convertibles, offering a potential framework for managing long-dated leverage.
What to know:
- Strive upsized its SATA follow on offering beyond $150 million, pricing the perpetual preferred at $90.
- The structure offers a blueprint for replacing fixed maturity convertibles with perpetual equity capital that removes refinancing risk.
- Strategy has a $3 billion convertible tranche due in June 2028 with a $672.40 conversion price, which could be addressed using a similar preferred equity approach.
Top Stories
