Sphere Monthly Report — EM 4
Bringing You the Latest Ecosystem News
The new year has kicked off with immense momentum for Sphere Finance and its expanding ecosystem of trailblazing DeFi protocols. From deepening collaborations to deliver enhanced utility, to overcoming obstacles and emerging stronger, January has marked monumental strides toward Sphere’s goal of becoming a one-stop DeFi destination.
This month’s Report recaps the flurry of developments bringing Sphere into 2024 at full speed. Read on for details on the DIA Data integration, Mean Finance partnership, Dyson exploit response, and version 2.1.2 patch.
DIA Oracle Integration
Reliable data is crucial for DeFi platforms to function properly. That’s why Preon is thrilled to announce our integration with DIA Data — a decentralized oracle network providing transparent, real-time price feeds for over 3,000 crypto assets.
By supplying customized data sourced from 80+ top DEXs and CEXs, DIA grants Preon access to accurate market information to power our lending, yield generation, and token pricing utilities.
For starters, we are leveraging DIA’s feeds to build a STAR/USD price oracle, ensuring precise valuations across collateral and loan positions. As on-chain activity grows, precise data will prove vital in calculating borrowing capacity, managing liquidity pools, and informing user decisions.
Earlier in the month, the Preon team raised a proposal to the Arbitrum Assembly for the DIA community to vote on. This proposal was for an oracle gasdrop grant to fuel the STAR/USD price oracle, and the results were incredible — a 100% approval rate, with the grant being delivered to the Sphere Ecosystem multi-sig address on Arbitrum.
Ultimately, reliable data infrastructure lays the foundation for Sphere to scale sustainably over the long run. Integrating DIA fortifies core systems, driving us toward an ambitious yet achievable vision.
Mean Finance: Capital-Efficient DCA
In another strategic partnership, Sphere has teamed up with Mean Finance — a leading decentralized DCA protocol allowing seamless token conversions with optimized trade execution.
Specifically, Mean Finance offers gasless, MEV-protected DCA swapping of assets like $ETH, stablecoins, governance tokens, and more. By dividing trades into periodic instalments, users mitigate volatility risk and reduce the impact of price spikes.
Integrating Mean Finance introduces a valuable new utility for Preon’s $STAR stablecoin. Users can now easily DCA into any ERC20 token on Arbitrum using borrowed $STAR, unlocking flexible capital for market entry without selling collateral holdings.
With gasless swaps and yield farming in a zero-interest loan, this collaboration unlocks a world of opportunities for conveniently accessing markets using $STAR. Sphere is thrilled to partner with innovative DeFi agents like Mean Finance to expand utility and convenience for our users.
Response to Dyson Exploit
While recent progress remains incredibly encouraging, no rapid growth ever comes without obstacles along the way. In mid-January, several Dyson vaults were targeted by flash loan manipulators — resulting in approximately $148,000 worth of funds extracted.
As promised, our team promptly conducted a comprehensive analysis with Simsala taking the lead in the investigation to determine root causes and formulate an action plan.
In summary — deficiencies existed in the calculations dictating LP share returns within Dyson’s concentrated liquidity model, enabling attackers to artificially spike pool valuations if liquidity lacked sufficient depth.
By aggressively swapping one asset side to an extreme price then depositing into the target vault, the inflated valuation skewed Dyson’s minted share calculations. The exploiter then exited with an excess of shares derived from the temporary price exaggeration.
With deep apologies to all users impacted, we want to reinforce that full reimbursements are underway. Simply withdraw positions from Chronos and deposit tokens to our official multi-sig address within 30 days (until the 16th of February) to claim 100% compensation.
Additionally, in the interests of complete transparency, we have published further details outlining exactly how the exploits operated in each case. Please review the incident report for more clarity.
These flash loan attacks have illuminated shortcomings that we are proactively addressing across audits, concentrated liquidity dynamics, and pool structures. Though an undeniably difficult lesson, the breakthroughs achieved in understanding critical vulnerabilities will equip our developers to implement cutting-edge protections against all future attack vectors.
We recognize trust must be re-earned, and remain fully committed to compensating users while recreating an environment of unprecedented security for all products under the Sphere umbrella.
Dyson Version 2.1.2 Patch Notes
On the brighter side of Dyson updates, our developers recently rolled out version 2.1.2 — delivering some handy quality-of-life improvements for the platform!
This latest patch focuses on minor visual enhancements and useful feature additions, including:
- Tidying up UI elements like tables, pagination, and filters
- New paused flag feature which displays the status of the vault
Though only a small incremental update, these types of revamps aim to refine and polish the user experience over time. As Dyson continues rapidly expanding to new chains and strategies, we appreciate the community’s valuable feedback for informing impactful upgrades along the way.
Please explore the changes first-hand, and let us know your thoughts! Ongoing community input steers products in the most constructive direction possible.
Into the Future
And with that, we wrap up our first 2024 edition of the Sphere Monthly Report. Despite some turbulent moments, January proved one of tremendous progress and learning.
Crucial integrations with leading protocols like DIA and Mean Finance established will pay dividends for a long time to come in expanding access and utility for users. And our response plan in the aftermath of an exploit communicated full accountability to do right by those affected.
With obstacles overcome and partnerships forged, the stage is set for major achievements as we press onward through Q1 2024. Sphere’s ascent relies on input from our remarkable community members and believers in our mission of pushing DeFi to the limits.
We welcome all to join us on Discord and X as we turn vision into reality!
