DeFi protocol SushiSwap has announced it would be shutting down its lending protocol, Kashi, and its token launchpad, Miso.  The company stated that it had come to its decision due to a number of reasons, including poor execution, poor design choices, and a lack of resources.  A Slew Of Changes  The latest move by SushiSwap comes after the protocol’s CEO had proposed new tokenomics for increased liquidity and better decentralization. The new tokenomics model would see the introduction of time-lock tiers for emission-based rewards. It would also introduce a token-burning mechanism and liquidity lock for price support. CEO Jared Grey hopes the new tokenomics will boost liquidity and decentralization on the platform, help strengthen treasury reserves and ensure the continual operation and development of the protocol.  Grey took to Twitter, asking the community for questions and feedback.  “I am excited to share the vision for @SushiSwap’s new token model. I’ve posted a brief tl;dr write-up on the Sushi forum & linked the entire proposal. We look forward to your questions & feedback.”  Kashi And Miso Shut Down  Now the DeFi protocol has announced that it is shutting down its lending protocol Kashi, and its token launchpad, Miso. Elaborating on the rationale behind the move, Matthew Lilley, SushiSwap CTO, stated that Kashi had several issues, including several design flaws, a lack of resources, and considerable losses. However, in the larger picture, the team had to prioritize and improve their most prominent offering, the SushiSwap DEX.  “We made the decision to deprecate Kashi (Sushi Lending) and Miso (Sushi Launch Pad). 1. Kashi, for a number of reasons, had a number of design flaws, ran at a loss, and had a lack of resources to dedicate to it. 2. MISO had a lack of resources.” Lilley assured the community that they do plan on launching new staking and launchpad products in the near future to replace the soon-to-be-defunct services as soon as additional liquidity becomes available. However, for now, the team’s focus would be on the DEX, which he described as the “breadwinner” of the company.  “We have the plan to launch successors of these products in the future once we have the resources to dedicate product teams towards them, but believe that requires focusing entirely on the breadwinner at the time being, which is inarguably the DEX.” An Expected Move  The move to shutter the two platforms did not surprise many, with developers having already announced in mid-December that the Kashi 1.0 interface would no longer support deposits or borrowing. According to the announcement, the original UI would remain online, but the markets would not be updated. It also stated that MISO UI would be accessible indefinitely, but no further support or development would be provided. SushiSwap’s Recent Financial Woes  SushiSwap has made the decision to shutter specific offerings against the backdrop of significant financial stress over the past few months. In an update shared in December, the firm revealed it had only 1.5 years of operating costs in hand, and the situation required immediate attention and action to ensure that the firm had sufficient resources to ensure seamless operations.  CEO Grey had stated that the company was pursuing a strategy that would see it renegotiate infrastructure contracts and cut back on underperforming and superfluous dependencies. It would also enforce a budget freeze on non-critical personnel and infrastructure as it looks to cut back on expenses. Gray also revealed the company had made a loss of $30 million over the past 12 months.  “In the past 12 months, Sushi has experienced a 30M USD loss in its emissions-based reward strategy to bootstrap liquidity & incentivize LPing; Sushi spends more on emissions than swap volume generated.” Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

On December 7, Jared Grey, the CEO and “Head Chef” of SushiSwap, suggested that the DEX is burning through cash like there is no tomorrow. According to the forum post made by Grey, the DEX has, more or less, a year and a half in headroom which resulted in the exchange enacting a 100% allocation from fees on its staking token xSUSHI.  This 100% allocation, however, is temporary until the DEX’s situation improves or new tokenomics are enacted. Will this proposal be the answer to SushiSwap’s urgent situation?  Related Reading: Bitcoin Cash Closes 2022 With A Year-Low – Will 2023 Be Better? New Year, New Tokenomics  Grey’s current proposal, if passed, is a technical undertaking for the DEX which could save it from its current state. According to the proposal, liquidity providers, or LPs, will receive a share of the 0.05 % swap fee on the ecosystem. Chart: Sushi Tokenomics Proposal PDF They can also lock their liquidity to earn emission-based rewards with a soft-lock system, meaning that they can pull their liquidity out before it reaches maturity but they lose their rewards.  xSUSHI rewards are also updated. The token would lose its previous cut on the fees and will be replaced with an emission-based rewards system. The soft-lock system will have differing rewards for different lock tiers. The emission APY, according to the forum post, will be around 1-3% if instated. The new tokenomics would also introduce token burning in the form of buy backs of SUSHI and burning off the rewards if the locked liquidity or xSUSHI is pulled out.  As I promised in Sunday’s tweet regarding Sushi’s Budget Snapshot for 2023, I am making the DAO operating costs public. Transparency is a critical component of a successful DAO. You can see most budget costs are salaries. 1/ pic.twitter.com/rVHXEJSfLR — Jared Grey (@jaredgrey) December 13, 2022 Issues Wafting In The Air For SushiSwap Although the new tokenomics look sound, a comment on the December 7 forum post shows something different. According to user GoldenNaim, the platform is currently using $4 million of the calculated $5 million operating budget for wages.  This is incredibly troubling as this only leaves the team a measly $1 million for making SushiSwap better through innovation. Jared Grey’s reply to this is just: “Yes, we need to pay people competitive wages to work at Sushi.” SUSHI total market cap at $217 million on the daily chart | Chart: TradingView.com But it seems that the proposed tokenomics has an effect on SUSHI’s price. According to CoinGecko, SUSHI has jumped by 1.8% in the past 24 hours with the biggest rally in the weekly timeframe at 2.8%.  The DEX’s fundamentals are also looking bullish as Cryptolaxy, a crypto fundamental and technical analysis platform, show that SUSHI is undervalued to some degree. If SUSHI is to recover from 2022 market woes, the token must break through $0.9849 resistance.  As the year progresses forward, we’ll see if SushiSwap will implement its proposed tokenomics and save it from its current state.  -Restaurant Business Magazine

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has made some bold predictions for the crypto industry following one of the worst years in its brief history.