The cross-chain bridging service Ren Protocol has revealed that FTX, Alameda Research, and other entities that acquired it in 2022 have given the company permission to transfer all of its cryptocurrency assets to the wallets of FTX creditors.
Ren claims that by taking this step, debtors can protect their assets if their infrastructure and systems are eventually shut down. The bridge provider also stated that the assets will be transferred to a separate wallet for Ren’s assets in order to keep the funds separate from other debtor wallets.
— Ren (@renprotocol) April 12, 2023
Ren is a service that allowed users to move tokens such as bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) between blockchain networks and quickly grew into one of the most popular decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols during the 2021 bull run through 2022.
Ren Protocol wants to safeguard against system shutdowns
Alameda Research’s acquisition of Ren Protocol in February 2022 intends to accelerate the platform’s decentralization and drive interoperability within the DeFi market. The acquisition of Alameda was intended to provide Ren Protocol with additional support to accomplish its aims.
“Alameda has since been funding the development team on a quarterly basis,” the bridge protocol said in a statement in late 2022.
Nevertheless, last year, the FTX exchange and its sister firm, Alameda Research, witnessed one of the most severe collapses in crypto history, affecting the Ren 1.0 network and forcing its closure. Ren Protocol urged its users to withdraw their tokens from their wrapping and return them to the native chains in December.
After the FTX/Alameda scandal broke, it was stated that the Ren 1.0 network would “sunset” in order to preserve the project’s integrity and the security of its users, to launch the completely community-controlled Ren 2.0 network as soon as practicable.
However, the Ren Protocol move has drawn diverse comments from the crypto community, with some Twitter users assuming that the transfer is an attempt by insiders to short the REN token, while others expressed disappointment.
The Ren Protocol’s native token, REN, has dropped as much as 8.5% in the last day, with the majority of the losses occurring after the company tweeted the decision. As of the time of publication, it was trading at $0.09781 and had a 24-hour trading volume of $40,098,736.
