TL;DR:
- THE token has suffered a 44% devaluation, dropping from $0.27 to $0.15 following the supply-cap manipulation on Venus Protocol on March 15.
- The attacker extracted $14.9 million in assets (BNB, CAKE, BTCB) after artificially inflating borrowing power by accumulating 14.5 million tokens.
- Venus Protocol reports $2.15 million in bad debt, while Thena seeks to incentivize holders with a drastic increase in yields (APR).
The recent supply manipulation attack on Venus Protocol caused a crisis of confidence in the DeFi ecosystem, with Thena’s THE token serving as the centerpiece of the exploit. In response, Thena clarified that its smart contracts remain intact; however, the market reaction was overwhelmingly bearish.
Since the incident, THE’s trading volume has decreased by more than 51%. According to technical analysis, the attacker funded the operation with 7,447 ETH directly from Tornado Cash, successfully controlling 84% of the supply cap for the THE lending market on Venus before executing the liquidity drain.
Recovery Strategies and Impact on Venus Protocol
In contrast to the THE token, Venus’s governance asset (XVS) showed resilience over the last week, increasing by 12%. This suggests that investors attribute the responsibility to the specific architecture of a single lending market on Venus rather than a systemic failure of both protocols.
For its part, the Thena team activated emergency measures to stem the capital outflow. On Tuesday, March 17, they confirmed that Single Sided Vaults will receive a significant boost in their Annual Percentage Rates (APR), fueled by commissions generated during the peak volatility of the attack.
In summary, the market remains cautious regarding Thena’s ability to restore value after being linked to $2.15 million in bad debt. The effectiveness of the new governance incentives will be decisive in determining whether the token manages to stabilize above $0.15 or if selling pressure will continue to dominate price action.