TechFlow news — Illia Polosukhin, newly appointed CEO of the NEAR Foundation and co-founder of Near Protocol, responded to Wintermute's recent tweet regarding NEAR and Aurora Labs, stating: "In October 2022, due to insufficient collateralization of USN, the USN Protection Program (USNPP) was established and is operated by Aurora Borealis Ltd. (ABL), with the purpose of protecting and compensating affected individuals. In August 2023, Wintermute purchased 11.2 million USN from the Alameda estate and requested redemption into USDT.
Wintermute’s redemption request is inconsistent with the goal of protecting individuals affected within the NEAR ecosystem. Wintermute’s acquisition of USN from Alameda has also raised significant KYC/AML concerns, as the origin of the USN may be linked to illicit activities and/or could be subject to future litigation or court orders. ABL determined that WM’s attempt to exploit the USNPP for last-minute arbitrage contradicts the program’s core purpose of safeguarding individual participants, and therefore rejected WM’s request."
Earlier report: Wintermute founder and CEO Evgeny Gaevoy disclosed on X that the NEAR Foundation and Aurora refused to honor their commitment to redeem $11.2 million worth of the stablecoin USN purchased from the FTX estate. Wintermute stated it will make one final public attempt to demand the NEAR Foundation complete the redemption; if the NEAR Foundation continues to refuse, Wintermute will pursue legal action.
