Crypto Market Faces Dire Conditions as Another Protocol Announces Shutdown

On September 21st, Fuji Finance, a cross-chain lending protocol, announced on its official blog: “Since February this year, the Fuji team has been fundraising to continue developing the protocol and building the future of cross-chain DeFi operations. However, due to the inability to find a product suitable for the market and with the team's funds dwindling, there is currently no sign of the fundraising activities coming to an end. The team has decided to commence the closure of the company and cease operations. Users must withdraw their funds through Fuji's user interface by December 31, 2023. After the new year, users will need to interact directly with smart contracts unless community members decide to continue maintaining the front-end application.”

Over the past two and a half years, the Fuji team has been diligently working on building the first lending aggregator on Ethereum. This journey can be traced back to early 2021 when it all began during a hackathon hosted by ETH Global. The lending aggregator was subsequently launched on four different blockchains, including Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, and Fantom. To date, it has seen engagement from over 15,000 addresses across these diverse chains.

Most recently, the Fuji team introduced their latest innovation, the first cross-chain money market aggregator, known as V2 or Himalaya. It has been successfully deployed on various blockchain networks, including Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, and Gnosis Chain. This product simplifies the complexity of interacting with multiple blockchains, as it allows users to seamlessly deposit, borrow, repay, and withdraw their assets with just a single click, regardless of the blockchain they are using.

According to Defillama data, the current Total Value Locked (TVL) in Fuji Finance stands at $342,000. Previously, its highest TVL reached $2.53 million.

With the Federal Reserve maintaining high interest rates, the difficulty of securing financing has intensified, leading to a lack of market liquidity.

Jocy, the founder of IOSG, shared on the X platform after attending Token2049 in Singapore, stating that this edition of Token2049 represents the last hope for many teams to secure funding. If the bear market persists, it could potentially be the last time these teams have the opportunity to showcase their brand. Some are even willing to purchase the high-priced tickets or sponsor exhibition booths at Token2049 to pitch to more potential investors. In the current environment, many early-stage teams have only 5 to 10 months left if they cannot secure funding.