Synthetix
Summary
Synthetix is an Ethereum-based decentralized derivatives liquidity protocol originally launched in 2017 as Havven by Australian entrepreneur Kain Warwick, rebranding in 2018 to enable the creation of synthetic assets tracking real-world prices. The protocol reached a peak total value locked during the 2021 DeFi bull market and has been a pioneer in on-chain derivatives, but has faced recurring issues including a critical oracle exploit in 2019, persistent front-running vulnerabilities, a contentious DWF Labs market-maker arrangement, and a prolonged sUSD stablecoin depeg crisis beginning in 2025 triggered by the SIP-420 protocol overhaul.
Connected Entities
1 entities · 10 linked investigations- + 5 more
Timeline(15 events)
2018-02-28
Havven ICO launched, raising $30 million USD — at the time Australia's largest ICO
ICO Drops2018-11-01
Havven rebrands to Synthetix and pivots from stablecoin to synthetic asset platform
Kraken Learn2019-06-25
sKRW oracle incident: a trading bot exploits a 1,000x price feed error, briefly accumulating over 37 million sETH; trades reversed after bot operator agrees to bug bounty
Synthetix Blog2020-06-30
Synthetix Foundation commences decommissioning at end of Australian financial year
Synthetix Blog2020-07-01
Synthetix transitions to three-DAO governance structure (protocolDAO, grantsDAO, synthetixDAO)
Decrypt2023-03-14
Alleged DWF Labs treasury token arrangement: on-chain data shows 5.3 million SNX transferred from Synthetix treasury to DWF Labs wallet, followed by rapid transfers to Binance
The Block2023-12-01
SIP-2043 passes; SNX inflation ends and token supply transitions to deflationary model
Synthetix Blog2024-01-24
Synthetix V3 and Perps V3 deployed on Base, becoming the first major perpetuals protocol on that network
BusinessWire2024-05-01
sUSD first major depeg to $0.89–$0.96 following SIP-2059 deprecation of non-sUSD spot synths and a large Curve pool withdrawal
The Block2024-10-01
Referendum SR-2 passes; governance consolidated into a single seven-member Spartan Council
Messari2025-04-18
sUSD depeg reaches approximately $0.68 — a 31% deviation from peg — attributed to SIP-420 collateral ratio reduction and removal of individual staker peg-defense incentive
CoinTelegraph2025-04-21
Founder Kain Warwick publicly warns SNX stakers of coercive measures ('the stick') if the new sUSD 420 staking pool does not attract sufficient participation
CoinTelegraph2025-05-15
Synthetix publishes sUSD peg update; sUSD at approximately $0.93; treasury buybacks ongoing at up to $1 million USD per day
Synthetix BlogDecision Log
- hash: F2MTMX58DJcVRPiPa5qHExygVFYuuiKjGMZZB4pRVJrq
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain and source URLs are archived via the Internet Archive.
model: claude-sonnet-4-6
generated: 5/31/2026, 5:48:21 PM
last updated: 5/31/2026, 5:48:45 PM
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