The DeFi protocol for trading synthetic stocks is closed on the health of the founder

Cresco is sunsetting its protocol. The founder of the protocol was “facing health challenges.” Some team members have forked the protocol.

Cresco, a DeFi protocol for synthetic stocks, commodities and crypto trading, is shutting down the platform Announced On Thursday.

Protocol, which has raised $4.15 million from investors between 2021 and 2023, cited founder Deepak Nuli's health issues as the reason for the decision.

“Our founder has been experiencing significant health challenges that have recently worsened,” Cresco said in an X post. “After much consideration and exploring various alternatives, we have concluded that this is the best course of action.”

More specific information was not disclosed.

Prior to founding Cresco, Nuli founded the crypto security and research company MultiSig.

Users have until September 10 to withdraw their assets from the platform or move their funds to a new protocol called Copeo, a forked version of the protocol developed by some Cresco team members.

Forked versions of crypto are copies of existing projects.

Crypto Synthetics Market

Cresco launched in 2021 after the infamous GameStop short squeeze when retail trading app Robinhood controversially halted stock trading.

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The protocol allowed users to create and trade synthetic assets: crypto-based tokens that represented trading positions in traditional assets.

Users can trade synthetic stocks of companies like electric vehicle maker Tesla or commodities like gold on Cresco.

The protocol uses a Minter app that allows users to create synthetic versions of investment assets based on crypto collateral committed to the platform.

Users can also trade fractions of those synthetic assets instead of buying whole shares.

Cresco is a minor player in the crypto synthetics market, the value of the sector $805 millionAccording to CoinGecko.

Synthetics Network and Uma Protocol are the biggest players in this sector and are valued at $493 million and $181 million respectively. Other prominent projects include STP Network, Cryptex Finance and Indigo Protocol.

Osato Awan-Nomayo Our Nigeria based DeFi representative. He covers DeFi and technology. To share tips or information about articles, please contact him here [email protected].