Audit log

Every state-changing event for Synthetix: moderation decisions on community submissions, plus corrections and updates from the news pipeline. URL-based decisions carry three independent witnesses — the original source, an Internet Archive snapshot taken at submission time, and a Solana memo signed by our publicly-disclosed publisher key.

1. #1publishby system:backfill

   2026-05-31 17:48:45Z
   Score: ? → ? (no score change)
   anchoranchored

   chain

   ●mainnet-betaslot 423,422,763

   sig

   kN85JBPY7FoP…nEB5q4g1copyexplorer ↗

   hash

   F2MTMX58DJcV…B4pRVJrqcopysha256 → base58

   verifying row…full verify ↗

   canonical bytes (27144 B) ▸

   {"actor":"system:backfill","investigation_id":"3504bf43-3ada-4577-beea-0500b7216b9c","kind":"publish","page_slug":"synthetix","published_at":"2026-05-31T17:48:45.820Z","sequence_num":1,"snapshot":{"content_type":"investigation","entity_name":"Synthetix","sections":[{"content":"Synthetix (formerly Havven) is a decentralized finance protocol deployed on Ethereum and Optimism that allows users to mint and trade synthetic assets, called Synths, which are ERC-20 tokens tracking the price of real-world assets including fiat currencies, commodities, cryptocurrencies, and indices. The protocol was founded in Sydney, Australia in 2017 by Kain Warwick and launched its initial coin offering under the Havven name in February 2018, raising $30 million USD — at the time Australia's largest ICO. The protocol rebranded from Havven to Synthetix in November 2018 and pivoted from a stablecoin focus to a broader synthetic asset platform. The native token SNX serves as collateral for minting sUSD, the protocol's primary synthetic stablecoin. SNX stakers are collectively the counterparty to all Synth trades within the system. The protocol reached an all-time high SNX price of approximately $28.53–$29.00 on February 14, 2021. As of May 2026, the SNX token trades around $0.32, representing approximately a 99% decline from its peak, with a market capitalization near $108 million. Synthetix V3, deployed on Base in January 2024, introduced multi-collateral support, native cross-margining, and USDC as an alternative to SNX for liquidity provision.","heading":"Background and Protocol Overview","severity":"low","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"What is Synthetix (SNX)? — CoinGecko","type":"research","url":"https://www.coingecko.com/learn/what-is-synthetix-ultimate-guide-to-snx"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Synthetix Deploys First Major Perpetuals Protocol on Base Mainnet — BusinessWire","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240124505362/en/Synthetix-Deploys-First-Major-Perpetuals-Protocol-on-Base-Mainnet-Marking-the-Completion-of-the-Synthetix-V3-Upgrade"},{"credibility":2,"name":"What is Synthetix (SNX)? — Kraken","type":"other","url":"https://www.kraken.com/learn/what-is-synthetix-snx"}]},{"content":"On June 25, 2019 at approximately 3am Sydney time, a critical oracle failure allowed an automated trading bot to exploit a pricing error in the sKRW (synthetic Korean Won) market, generating alleged profits of over $1 billion on paper in less than one hour. The root cause was a commercial price-feed API reporting the KRW rate at approximately 1,000 times its actual value. The oracle's outlier-detection mechanism failed because KRW was sourced from only two APIs at the time; one had suffered an unrelated outage that was not caught by exception reporting, leaving the oracle to average just the one remaining (erroneous) price. The bot, operating autonomously, executed numerous trades at the fabricated price, netting over 37 million sETH according to on-chain data cited by The Block and CoinTelegraph. Synthetix's CTO halted the oracle service, freezing all system transfers and trading. The team identified and contacted the bot's operator, who agreed to reverse the trades in full in exchange for an undisclosed bug bounty. No user funds were permanently lost. In response, Synthetix added redundancy to its price-feed infrastructure, improved exception-handling logic, and accelerated its migration to the Chainlink decentralized oracle network.","heading":"sKRW Oracle Incident (June 2019)","severity":"critical","sources":[{"credibility":1,"name":"Synthetix Response to Oracle Incident — Synthetix Blog","type":"official","url":"https://blog.synthetix.io/response-to-oracle-incident/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Synthetix suffers oracle attack, more than 37 million synthetic ether exposed — The Block","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.theblock.co/linked/28748/synthetix-suffers-oracle-attack-potentially-looting-37-million-synthetic-ether"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Ethereum-Based Synthetic Asset Platform Loses Over 37M Tokens in Oracle Attack — CoinTelegraph","type":"news_article","url":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/ethereum-based-synthetic-asset-platform-loses-over-37m-tokens-in-oracle-attack"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Price Feed Glitch Allows Trader To Generate Over $1B in Profit — Crowdfund Insider","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2019/06/148850-implications-staggering-price-feed-glitch-allows-trader-to-generate-over-1b-in-profit/"}]},{"content":"Front-running was described by the Synthetix team as a 'significant and at times existential' issue for the protocol from approximately 2019 through 2021. Because Synth prices were updated by a centralized oracle at fixed intervals, traders could observe pending price updates in the Ethereum mempool and submit trades before the update landed, profiting systematically at the expense of SNX stakers who collectively bore all trading losses. The team published a detailed public account of the front-running history on the Synthetix blog, acknowledging the severity of the problem. Initial mitigations included trading fee increases from 0.3% to 0.5% and a 'fee reclamation' mechanism requiring traders to wait for price confirmation before finalizing trades. In at least one documented case, the oracle detected a front-running transaction in the mempool and responded by executing a sandwich transaction to raise the exchange fee to 99% for that specific trade, then restoring it. The long-term resolution was migration away from the proprietary centralized oracle to Chainlink's decentralized price feeds. Persistent front-running is considered the primary reason Synthetix accelerated its Chainlink integration.","heading":"Front-Running and Latency Arbitrage","severity":"high","sources":[{"credibility":1,"name":"Frontrunning Synthetix: A History — Synthetix Blog","type":"official","url":"https://blog.synthetix.io/frontrunning-synthetix-a-history/"}]},{"content":"Synthetix's sUSD stablecoin has experienced multiple depeg events. An early episode occurred in May 2024 when sUSD fell to approximately $0.89–$0.96, triggered by a major liquidity provider withdrawing from the sBTC/wBTC Curve pool following the SIP-2059 deprecation of non-sUSD spot synths on Ethereum mainnet. The most severe and prolonged crisis began in early 2025 following the implementation of SIP-420, a protocol overhaul that lowered the collateralization ratio requirement from 750% to 200% and transitioned individual staker debt to a collective protocol-owned debt pool. The SIP-420 change inadvertently removed a key peg-defense mechanism: previously, individual stakers had a direct financial incentive to buy discounted sUSD on the open market to retire their own debt at a discount; under the collective debt model, this individual incentive largely disappeared. By April 18, 2025, sUSD had fallen to approximately $0.68, a depeg of roughly 31%. Founder Kain Warwick publicly warned SNX stakers on X (formerly Twitter) that the protocol would resort to coercive measures ('the stick') if voluntary uptake of a new sUSD staking pool — offering 5 million SNX in rewards over 12 months — was insufficient. As of May 2025, the protocol's official blog reported sUSD had recovered to approximately $0.93, with ongoing treasury buybacks capped at $1 million USD per day being conducted through open-market purchases. Warwick acknowledged the recovery would depend on 'natural demand and market dynamics' rather than ongoing subsidies.","heading":"sUSD Stablecoin Depeg Episodes","severity":"high","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Synthetix's sUSD stablecoin slips below dollar peg to $0.96 amid sell-off — The Block","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/295074/synthetix-susd-depeg"},{"credibility":2,"name":"What happened to sUSD? How a crypto-collateralized stablecoin depegged — CoinTelegraph","type":"news_article","url":"https://cointelegraph.com/explained/what-happened-to-susd-how-a-crypto-collateralized-stablecoin-depegged"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Synthetix sUSD Peg Update — Synthetix Blog","type":"official","url":"https://blog.synthetix.io/synthetix-susd-peg-update/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Synthetix founder threatens SNX stakers with 'the stick' to fix sUSD depeg — CoinTelegraph","type":"news_article","url":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/kain-threatens-snx-stakers-with-the-stick-fix-susd-depeg"},{"credibility":3,"name":"sUSD Depeg Crisis Deepens as Stablecoin Plunges to $0.7215 — CryptoNews.net","type":"news_article","url":"https://cryptonews.net/news/defi/32360182/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Synthetix's sUSD Slides Further Away from Peg After Protocol Update — The Defiant","type":"news_article","url":"https://thedefiant.io/news/defi/synthetix-s-susd-slides-further-away-from-peg-after-protocol-update"}]},{"content":"In 2023, Synthetix entered into an arrangement with crypto market maker DWF Labs, which announced the acquisition of $15 million in SNX tokens to boost liquidity. However, on-chain data analysis published by The Block and CoinDesk indicated that DWF Labs received approximately 5.3 million SNX tokens directly from Synthetix's treasury wallet between March 14 and March 16, 2023, and subsequently transferred the tokens to Binance in multiple transactions between March 16 and March 20, 2023 — a pattern inconsistent with long-term market-making or strategic investment. Founder Kain Warwick later publicly stated that Synthetix 'was the first project to be grifted by DWF Labs,' alleging that DWF purchased tokens from the treasury to temporarily boost the price before dumping, which harmed the token and community over the long term. DWF Labs denied market manipulation allegations, with founding partner Heng Yu Lee characterizing such claims as 'competitor-driven FUD.' Separately, a Binance internal investigation cited in reporting by The Block found that DWF had allegedly manipulated the price of YGG and at least six other tokens and conducted over $300 million in wash trades in 2023, though Binance later stated it found insufficient evidence to take formal action against DWF.","heading":"DWF Labs Market-Maker Controversy","severity":"high","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"Synthetix Co-Founder Exposes Market Maker Manipulation Tactics — Ainvest","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.ainvest.com/news/synthetix-founder-exposes-market-maker-manipulation-tactics-2503/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"How DWF Labs makes deals and its tendency to talk about price — The Block","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/267354/how-dwf-labs-makes-deals-and-its-tendency-to-talk-about-price"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Crypto Market Maker DWF Labs' More Than $200M in Deals Blur What 'Investing' Means — CoinDesk","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/business/2023/04/14/market-maker-dwf-labs-more-than-200m-in-deals-blur-what-investing-means"}]},{"content":"Synthetix was initially governed by a non-profit foundation based in Australia. In June–July 2020, the Synthetix Foundation was formally decommissioned, with the winding-down process commencing at the end of Australia's financial year (June 30, 2020). The foundation was replaced by three independent DAOs: the protocolDAO (controlling protocol upgrades and configuration through a 4/8 multisig), the grantsDAO (funding ecosystem public goods), and the synthetixDAO (managing operational funding and contributor payments). The Spartan Council, established via SIP-93, was later formed as an elected body of eight members responsible for reviewing and voting on Synthetix Improvement Proposals (SIPs) and Synthetix Configuration Change Proposals (SCCPs). Governance underwent further consolidation in October 2024 via Referendum SR-2, which merged existing councils into a single seven-member Spartan Council, with four seats directly elected by SNX holders and three hired by the elected members. Governance also migrated from Optimism mainnet to Synthetix Chain per SIP-384. The protocol's governance process operates through a publicly accessible forum and the Spartan Council voting portal at council.synthetix.io.","heading":"Governance Structure and Evolution","severity":"low","sources":[{"credibility":1,"name":"Synthetix Foundation Decommissioned — Synthetix Blog","type":"official","url":"https://blog.synthetix.io/synthetix-foundation-decommissioned/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Synthetix Dissolves Foundation, Decentralizes into 3 DAOs — Crypto Briefing","type":"news_article","url":"https://cryptobriefing.com/synthetix-dissolves-foundation-decentralizes-into-3-daos/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"State of Synthetix Governance — Messari","type":"research","url":"https://messari.io/report/state-of-synthetix-governance"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Governance — Synthetix Docs","type":"official","url":"https://docs.synthetix.io/governance"}]},{"content":"The SNX token launched with an inflationary supply model designed to incentivize staking and collateral provision. SNX inflation was halted in Q4 2023 following the passage of SIP-2043, which was voted in during the first week of December 2023. At that point SNX transitioned from an inflationary to a deflationary supply model. Synthetix V3, which uses USDC as collateral on Base rather than SNX, introduced a fee-burning mechanism: 50% of trading fees generated on V3 are sent to a burner address to buy and burn SNX tokens, providing a deflationary pressure. The original token distribution from the 2018 ICO allocated 20% of the 100 million token supply to the team and advisors, 5% to partnerships, 12% to the Synthetix Foundation, and 3% to bounties and marketing. The circulating supply expanded significantly through staking inflation rewards between 2018 and 2023, with total supply at approximately 344 million SNX as of mid-2026.","heading":"Token Economics and Inflation","severity":"low","sources":[{"credibility":1,"name":"Synthetix Quarterly Report Q4 2023 — Synthetix Blog","type":"official","url":"https://blog.synthetix.io/synthetix-quarterly-report-q4-2023/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Synthetix Q2 2024 Brief — Messari","type":"research","url":"https://messari.io/report/synthetix-q2-2024-brief"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Synthetix (SNX) ICO information — ICO Drops","type":"other","url":"https://icodrops.com/synthetix/"}]},{"content":"Synthetix has undergone more than 20 smart contract audits conducted by multiple independent security firms. Primary auditors include iosiro, which conducted Phase 1, Phase 2, Altair Release, Alphard Release, and V3 audits, as well as 0xMacro and Guardian Audits. A Guardian Audits review of the auto-compound LP vault identified 65 total vulnerabilities, including one critical and four high severity issues, all of which were reported as resolved by the Synthetix team. The critical issue involved a function that allowed any user to drain rewards from the Synthetix registry, permanently locking them and breaking vault yield flows; the function was made internal and restricted to authorized callers. A bug bounty program is maintained on Immunefi with rewards up to $100,000. DeFiSafety has published a detailed process quality review of the protocol. Despite extensive auditing, the 2019 oracle incident demonstrated that off-chain infrastructure components (oracle services) can introduce critical vulnerabilities outside the scope of smart contract audits.","heading":"Security Audits and Bug Bounty","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Synthetix V3 Smart Contract Audit — iosiro","type":"research","url":"https://iosiro.com/audits/synthetix-v3-smart-contract-audit"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Synthetix Auto-Compound Case Study — Guardian Audits","type":"research","url":"https://guardianaudits.com/casestudies/synthetix-auto-compound-case-study"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Synthetix Bug Bounty — Immunefi","type":"official","url":"https://immunefi.com/bug-bounty/synthetix/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Synthetix Phase 1 Smart Contract Audit — iosiro","type":"research","url":"https://www.iosiro.com/audits/synthetix-phase-1-smart-contract-audit"}]},{"content":"No formal regulatory actions by the SEC, CFTC, DOJ, or equivalent international bodies specifically targeting Synthetix have been identified in available public records as of May 2026. Founder Kain Warwick has been publicly critical of U.S. crypto regulatory posture, stating in September 2023 that U.S. courts would ultimately need to resolve regulatory ambiguities and that U.S. officials have not acted in good faith toward the crypto industry. Synthetix's synthetic asset model — offering on-chain exposure to equities, commodities, and fiat currencies — presents structural regulatory risk in jurisdictions where such instruments are classified as securities or regulated derivatives. The protocol's legal and community documentation acknowledges these considerations without disclosing any specific regulatory proceedings.","heading":"Regulatory Risk and Compliance","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"Synthetix Founder Kain Warwick Says US Courts Will Sort Out Crypto Regulation — The Daily Hodl","type":"news_article","url":"https://dailyhodl.com/2023/09/19/synthetix-founder-kain-warwick-says-us-courts-will-sort-out-crypto-regulation-battles-heres-why/"},{"credibility":3,"name":"Synthetix Creator Accuses US Regulators of Lacking Good Faith — CCN","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.ccn.com/news/syntetix-founder-accuses-us-regulators/"},{"credibility":3,"name":"Legal and Regulatory Considerations for Trading Synthetic Assets — Synthetix Community","type":"community_report","url":"https://synthetix.community/legal-regulatory-considerations-trading-synthetic/"}]}],"sources_used":[{"credibility":1,"name":"Synthetix Response to Oracle Incident — Synthetix Blog","type":"official","url":"https://blog.synthetix.io/response-to-oracle-incident/"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Synthetix Foundation Decommissioned — Synthetix Blog","type":"official","url":"https://blog.synthetix.io/synthetix-foundation-decommissioned/"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Synthetix sUSD Peg Update — Synthetix Blog","type":"official","url":"https://blog.synthetix.io/synthetix-susd-peg-update/"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Synthetix Quarterly Report Q4 2023 — Synthetix Blog","type":"official","url":"https://blog.synthetix.io/synthetix-quarterly-report-q4-2023/"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Frontrunning Synthetix: A History — Synthetix Blog","type":"official","url":"https://blog.synthetix.io/frontrunning-synthetix-a-history/"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Governance — Synthetix Docs","type":"official","url":"https://docs.synthetix.io/governance"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Synthetix Bug Bounty — Immunefi","type":"official","url":"https://immunefi.com/bug-bounty/synthetix/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Synthetix suffers oracle attack — The Block","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.theblock.co/linked/28748/synthetix-suffers-oracle-attack-potentially-looting-37-million-synthetic-ether"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Synthetix's sUSD stablecoin slips below dollar peg — The Block","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/295074/synthetix-susd-depeg"},{"credibility":2,"name":"How DWF Labs makes deals — The Block","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/267354/how-dwf-labs-makes-deals-and-its-tendency-to-talk-about-price"},{"credibility":1,"name":"DWF Labs more than $200M in deals — CoinDesk","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/business/2023/04/14/market-maker-dwf-labs-more-than-200m-in-deals-blur-what-investing-means"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Synthetix founder threatens SNX stakers with 'the stick' — CoinTelegraph","type":"news_article","url":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/kain-threatens-snx-stakers-with-the-stick-fix-susd-depeg"},{"credibility":2,"name":"What happened to sUSD? — CoinTelegraph","type":"news_article","url":"https://cointelegraph.com/explained/what-happened-to-susd-how-a-crypto-collateralized-stablecoin-depegged"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Synthetix's sUSD Slides Further Away from Peg — The Defiant","type":"news_article","url":"https://thedefiant.io/news/defi/synthetix-s-susd-slides-further-away-from-peg-after-protocol-update"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Ethereum-Based Synthetic Asset Platform Loses Over 37M Tokens — CoinTelegraph","type":"news_article","url":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/ethereum-based-synthetic-asset-platform-loses-over-37m-tokens-in-oracle-attack"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Synthetix Dissolves Foundation, Decentralizes into 3 DAOs — Crypto Briefing","type":"news_article","url":"https://cryptobriefing.com/synthetix-dissolves-foundation-decentralizes-into-3-daos/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Synthetix is now controlled by three DAOs — Decrypt","type":"news_article","url":"https://decrypt.co/37011/synthetix-is-now-controlled-by-three-daos"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Synthetix Deploys First Major Perpetuals Protocol on Base — BusinessWire","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240124505362/en/Synthetix-Deploys-First-Major-Perpetuals-Protocol-on-Base-Mainnet-Marking-the-Completion-of-the-Synthetix-V3-Upgrade"},{"credibility":2,"name":"State of Synthetix Governance — Messari","type":"research","url":"https://messari.io/report/state-of-synthetix-governance"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Synthetix Q2 2024 Brief — Messari","type":"research","url":"https://messari.io/report/synthetix-q2-2024-brief"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Synthetix V3 Smart Contract Audit — iosiro","type":"research","url":"https://iosiro.com/audits/synthetix-v3-smart-contract-audit"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Synthetix Auto-Compound Case Study — Guardian Audits","type":"research","url":"https://guardianaudits.com/casestudies/synthetix-auto-compound-case-study"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Synthetix founder Kain Warwick launches Infinex — The Block","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/293990/synthetix-founder-kain-warwick-launches-infinex"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Synthetix (SNX) ICO information — ICO Drops","type":"other","url":"https://icodrops.com/synthetix/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Synthetix price today — CoinMarketCap","type":"other","url":"https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/synthetix/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Price Feed Glitch Allows Trader To Generate $1B+ in Profit — Crowdfund Insider","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2019/06/148850-implications-staggering-price-feed-glitch-allows-trader-to-generate-over-1b-in-profit/"}],"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.","timeline":[{"date":"2017-01-01","event":"Synthetix founded in Sydney, Australia by Kain Warwick under the name Havven","source":"CoinGecko","source_url":"https://www.coingecko.com/learn/what-is-synthetix-ultimate-guide-to-snx"},{"date":"2018-02-28","event":"Havven ICO launched, raising $30 million USD — at the time Australia's largest ICO","source":"ICO Drops","source_url":"https://icodrops.com/synthetix/"},{"date":"2018-11-01","event":"Havven rebrands to Synthetix and pivots from stablecoin to synthetic asset platform","source":"Kraken Learn","source_url":"https://www.kraken.com/learn/what-is-synthetix-snx"},{"date":"2019-06-25","event":"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","source":"Synthetix Blog","source_url":"https://blog.synthetix.io/response-to-oracle-incident/"},{"date":"2020-06-30","event":"Synthetix Foundation commences decommissioning at end of Australian financial year","source":"Synthetix Blog","source_url":"https://blog.synthetix.io/synthetix-foundation-decommissioned/"},{"date":"2020-07-01","event":"Synthetix transitions to three-DAO governance structure (protocolDAO, grantsDAO, synthetixDAO)","source":"Decrypt","source_url":"https://decrypt.co/37011/synthetix-is-now-controlled-by-three-daos"},{"date":"2021-02-14","event":"SNX token reaches all-time high of approximately $28.53–$29.00","source":"CoinMarketCap","source_url":"https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/synthetix/"},{"date":"2023-03-14","event":"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","source":"The Block","source_url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/267354/how-dwf-labs-makes-deals-and-its-tendency-to-talk-about-price"},{"date":"2023-12-01","event":"SIP-2043 passes; SNX inflation ends and token supply transitions to deflationary model","source":"Synthetix Blog","source_url":"https://blog.synthetix.io/synthetix-quarterly-report-q4-2023/"},{"date":"2024-01-24","event":"Synthetix V3 and Perps V3 deployed on Base, becoming the first major perpetuals protocol on that network","source":"BusinessWire","source_url":"https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240124505362/en/Synthetix-Deploys-First-Major-Perpetuals-Protocol-on-Base-Mainnet-Marking-the-Completion-of-the-Synthetix-V3-Upgrade"},{"date":"2024-05-01","event":"sUSD first major depeg to $0.89–$0.96 following SIP-2059 deprecation of non-sUSD spot synths and a large Curve pool withdrawal","source":"The Block","source_url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/295074/synthetix-susd-depeg"},{"date":"2024-10-01","event":"Referendum SR-2 passes; governance consolidated into a single seven-member Spartan Council","source":"Messari","source_url":"https://messari.io/report/synthetix-q3-2024-brief"},{"date":"2025-04-18","event":"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","source":"CoinTelegraph","source_url":"https://cointelegraph.com/explained/what-happened-to-susd-how-a-crypto-collateralized-stablecoin-depegged"},{"date":"2025-04-21","event":"Founder Kain Warwick publicly warns SNX stakers of coercive measures ('the stick') if the new sUSD 420 staking pool does not attract sufficient participation","source":"CoinTelegraph","source_url":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/kain-threatens-snx-stakers-with-the-stick-fix-susd-depeg"},{"date":"2025-05-15","event":"Synthetix publishes sUSD peg update; sUSD at approximately $0.93; treasury buybacks ongoing at up to $1 million USD per day","source":"Synthetix Blog","source_url":"https://blog.synthetix.io/synthetix-susd-peg-update/"}]},"v":1}

   Verify offline (run on your own machine)

   python -m src.verify_decision 868b7783-5485-4d0e-8357-ffc59cc7b033copy
2. #2reviewby reviewerreviewer

   2026-06-09 21:05:43Z
   Score: 54 → 54 (no score change)
   The Synthetix investigation page is substantively accurate and well-sourced. Most major claims are confirmed by credible independent sources. Key issues include: the DWF Labs deal size is understated ($15M described as the total when the announced deal was $20M); the Guardian Audits case study URL is dead (404); and specific token distribution percentages and a total supply figure could not be independently verified. No claims are directly contradicted by credible counter-sources.
   anchoranchored

   chain

   ●mainnet-betaslot 425,405,861

   sig

   4L6ZtHCfKQe4…WXWv2xjwcopyexplorer ↗

   hash

   36o7sRXLKS3y…pYXxNSukcopysha256 → base58

   verifying row…full verify ↗

   canonical bytes (830 B) ▸

   {"actor":"reviewer","decided_at":"2026-06-09T21:05:43.528Z","decision":"review","investigation_id":"3504bf43-3ada-4577-beea-0500b7216b9c","new_score":54,"page_slug":"synthetix","prev_score":54,"reason":"The Synthetix investigation page is substantively accurate and well-sourced. Most major claims are confirmed by credible independent sources. Key issues include: the DWF Labs deal size is understated ($15M described as the total when the announced deal was $20M); the Guardian Audits case study URL is dead (404); and specific token distribution percentages and a total supply figure could not be independently verified. No claims are directly contradicted by credible counter-sources.","score_delta":0,"sequence_num":2,"submission_content_hash":null,"submission_id":null,"submission_kind":null,"submission_valence":null,"v":1}

   Verify offline (run on your own machine)

   python -m src.verify_decision 02a6c0bf-626a-4c37-81f9-46538f7a05fccopy
3. #3review reviseby judgejudge

   2026-06-09 21:05:43Z
   Score: 54 → 47 (-7)
   The review confirmed 21 of 31 claims directly and found zero claims actively contradicted by credible sources. The page warrants revision rather than approval because: claim_findings[18] establishes the DWF Labs deal is understated — the page describes $15 million as the total deal when CoinDesk (Tier 1) reported the announced arrangement was $20 million ($15M immediate plus $5M follow-on); claim_findings[28] and claim_findings[29] flag that the primary Guardian Audits citation URL returns 404 (link rot), leaving specific audit finding counts unverifiable from a live source; and claim_findings[30] and claim_findings[26] note the total SNX supply figure and original ICO token distribution percentages could not be independently confirmed. These are corrections to secondary details — no core allegations about incidents, governance, or risk events are undermined — but they are specific, correctable inaccuracies that should be addressed before re-approval. The high-priority coverage gap for TVL data also supports requesting an expansion.
   anchoranchored

   chain

   ●mainnet-betaslot 425,405,865

   sig

   DvHgAuUeKGbH…QAT3yMiMcopyexplorer ↗

   hash

   DaQSt98A3EYh…xWDVKcQscopysha256 → base58

   verifying row…full verify ↗

   canonical bytes (1398 B) ▸

   {"actor":"judge","decided_at":"2026-06-09T21:05:43.528Z","decision":"review_revise","investigation_id":"3504bf43-3ada-4577-beea-0500b7216b9c","new_score":47,"page_slug":"synthetix","prev_score":54,"reason":"The review confirmed 21 of 31 claims directly and found zero claims actively contradicted by credible sources. The page warrants revision rather than approval because: claim_findings[18] establishes the DWF Labs deal is understated — the page describes $15 million as the total deal when CoinDesk (Tier 1) reported the announced arrangement was $20 million ($15M immediate plus $5M follow-on); claim_findings[28] and claim_findings[29] flag that the primary Guardian Audits citation URL returns 404 (link rot), leaving specific audit finding counts unverifiable from a live source; and claim_findings[30] and claim_findings[26] note the total SNX supply figure and original ICO token distribution percentages could not be independently confirmed. These are corrections to secondary details — no core allegations about incidents, governance, or risk events are undermined — but they are specific, correctable inaccuracies that should be addressed before re-approval. The high-priority coverage gap for TVL data also supports requesting an expansion.","score_delta":-7,"sequence_num":3,"submission_content_hash":null,"submission_id":null,"submission_kind":null,"submission_valence":null,"v":1}

   Verify offline (run on your own machine)

   python -m src.verify_decision ea4cefdd-fc84-4b61-b82b-b9e69bf073c9copy
4. #4reviewby reviewerreviewer

   2026-06-14 23:16:20Z
   Score: 47 → 47 (no score change)
   Blue-chip calibration review (Prompt A). Verdict: over-penalized. Page content is treated as accurate; the trust_score band is miscalibrated. Synthetix is a legitimate, long-running DeFi derivatives protocol (founded 2017, $30M ICO 2018) with no evidence of fraud, exit intent, or Ponzi mechanics. All major incidents are either suffered-by-entity or attributable to governance design decisions: the 2019 oracle exploit was fully reversed via bug bounty; the sUSD depeg (which worsened to $0.2081 in August 2025, a fact the page understates by citing only the $0.68 April 2025 low as the worst point) was caused by the protocol's own SIP-420 collateralization reduction — a negligence/design failure, not fraud. The protocol continues active operations with a published 2026 roadmap, 10 live perp markets, and an ongoing peg-restoration program. No regulatory actions have been taken by any regulator. A CAUTIONARY band (score 58) is appropriate: it acknowledges the serious unresolved sUSD depeg crisis, the DWF Labs governance controversy, and years of front-running vulnerabilities as material caveats, while correctly distinguishing a legitimate-but-troubled protocol from one with elevated fraud risk. The current WARNING score of 47 over-penalizes by conflating loss events suffered by or caused by the protocol's design decisions with fraudulent intent.
   anchoranchored

   chain

   ●mainnet-betaslot 426,514,917

   sig

   4WE73CdJX4SU…2EnaY3P3copyexplorer ↗

   hash

   6QNT5EV2jY1b…rmAxwvRpcopysha256 → base58

   verifying row…full verify ↗

   canonical bytes (1705 B) ▸

   {"actor":"reviewer","decided_at":"2026-06-14T23:16:20.825Z","decision":"review","investigation_id":"3504bf43-3ada-4577-beea-0500b7216b9c","new_score":47,"page_slug":"synthetix","prev_score":47,"reason":"Blue-chip calibration review (Prompt A). Verdict: over-penalized. Page content is treated as accurate; the trust_score band is miscalibrated. Synthetix is a legitimate, long-running DeFi derivatives protocol (founded 2017, $30M ICO 2018) with no evidence of fraud, exit intent, or Ponzi mechanics. All major incidents are either suffered-by-entity or attributable to governance design decisions: the 2019 oracle exploit was fully reversed via bug bounty; the sUSD depeg (which worsened to $0.2081 in August 2025, a fact the page understates by citing only the $0.68 April 2025 low as the worst point) was caused by the protocol's own SIP-420 collateralization reduction — a negligence/design failure, not fraud. The protocol continues active operations with a published 2026 roadmap, 10 live perp markets, and an ongoing peg-restoration program. No regulatory actions have been taken by any regulator. A CAUTIONARY band (score 58) is appropriate: it acknowledges the serious unresolved sUSD depeg crisis, the DWF Labs governance controversy, and years of front-running vulnerabilities as material caveats, while correctly distinguishing a legitimate-but-troubled protocol from one with elevated fraud risk. The current WARNING score of 47 over-penalizes by conflating loss events suffered by or caused by the protocol's design decisions with fraudulent intent.","score_delta":0,"sequence_num":4,"submission_content_hash":null,"submission_id":null,"submission_kind":null,"submission_valence":null,"v":1}

   Verify offline (run on your own machine)

   python -m src.verify_decision a4e55234-7746-4ee5-9ca7-c41e4b0a50b6copy
5. #5review approveby judgejudge

   2026-06-14 23:16:20Z
   Score: 47 → 58 (+11)
   This is a severity-calibration adjudication. All six claim_findings (indices 0–5) were returned as 'supported' with 0% disputed content — the page's factual record stands in full. The reviewer (confidence 0.82) correctly identifies that the current WARNING score of 47 over-penalizes Synthetix by treating a recovered oracle exploit (claim_findings[0], full fund reversal via bug bounty), a governance-driven stablecoin depeg (claim_findings[1], SIP-420 design failure, not fraud), and a third-party market-maker controversy (claim_findings[2], Synthetix was itself the aggrieved party) as equivalent in severity to fraudulent intent. Claim_findings[3] confirms no SEC, CFTC, or DOJ action exists, and claim_findings[4] confirms active operations with a published 2026 roadmap — both inconsistent with a WARNING band. A CAUTIONARY score of 58 correctly acknowledges material ongoing risk (unresolved sUSD peg, DWF Labs governance episode, historical front-running) while properly distinguishing a legitimate-but-troubled protocol from one with elevated fraud risk. A positive delta of +11 is applied to move the score from 47 to the recommended 58.
   anchoranchored

   chain

   ●mainnet-betaslot 426,514,922

   sig

   3SfVxCH23VtJ…71qrq6Wmcopyexplorer ↗

   hash

   fxuFwS13AX1z…WU97nMFacopysha256 → base58

   verifying row…full verify ↗

   canonical bytes (1499 B) ▸

   {"actor":"judge","decided_at":"2026-06-14T23:16:20.825Z","decision":"review_approve","investigation_id":"3504bf43-3ada-4577-beea-0500b7216b9c","new_score":58,"page_slug":"synthetix","prev_score":47,"reason":"This is a severity-calibration adjudication. All six claim_findings (indices 0–5) were returned as 'supported' with 0% disputed content — the page's factual record stands in full. The reviewer (confidence 0.82) correctly identifies that the current WARNING score of 47 over-penalizes Synthetix by treating a recovered oracle exploit (claim_findings[0], full fund reversal via bug bounty), a governance-driven stablecoin depeg (claim_findings[1], SIP-420 design failure, not fraud), and a third-party market-maker controversy (claim_findings[2], Synthetix was itself the aggrieved party) as equivalent in severity to fraudulent intent. Claim_findings[3] confirms no SEC, CFTC, or DOJ action exists, and claim_findings[4] confirms active operations with a published 2026 roadmap — both inconsistent with a WARNING band. A CAUTIONARY score of 58 correctly acknowledges material ongoing risk (unresolved sUSD peg, DWF Labs governance episode, historical front-running) while properly distinguishing a legitimate-but-troubled protocol from one with elevated fraud risk. A positive delta of +11 is applied to move the score from 47 to the recommended 58.","score_delta":11,"sequence_num":5,"submission_content_hash":null,"submission_id":null,"submission_kind":null,"submission_valence":null,"v":1}

   Verify offline (run on your own machine)

   python -m src.verify_decision 8f40c0df-b006-4737-9f34-4269c3139bc9copy