Вот как трейдеры Terra используют арбитраж для получения прибыли от LUNA и bLUNA
The end of the year is normally a time to wind down and prepare for the holiday season, but the last few weeks of 2021 saw a crypto market that showed no signs of resting.
One of the headline-grabbing stories related to Terra reaching an all-time high in terms of the total value locked (TVL), and the project surpassed Binance Smart Chain (BSC) as the second-largest decentralized finance blockchain after Ethereum. After reaching the $20-billion TVL mark on Dec. 24, Terra’s TVL has come down to around $19.3 billion at the time of writing according to data from Defi Llama, but this is in no way, shape or form a bearish signal.
Top 5 total value locked on the top 5 blockchains. Source: Defi Llama
Currently, Terra has only 14 protocols built on the chain, compared to the 257 protocols on BSC and the 377 that are on the Ethereum network. Terra’s protocols have managed to attract liquidity very successfully, and the recent Astroport protocol launch coincides nicely with the swift rally of Terra’s native governance token, LUNA, to a new all-time high on Dec. 26, 2021.
Looking at the TVL in United States dollars versus LUNA, the former has experienced exponential growth since September 2021 while the latter remains quite flat during the same period. It is not hard to see that the contributing factor to the recent increase in the U.S. dollar TVL is the increase in LUNA’s price itself.
Terra TVL in USD (left) vs. in LUNA (right). Source: Defi Llama
While price increases in the governance token often show investors’ confidence in the chain and the protocols, it seems to also produce more lucrative arbitrage opportunities.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the strategies used to arbitrage between LUNA and its bonded asset bLUNA.
Arbitrage LUNA/bLUNA pair among different DEXs. Source:Flipside Crypto
Arbitrage between DEXs and Anchor
Investors could swap LUNA for bLUNA on one of the DEXs that offers the highest bLUNA per LUNA, burn bLUNA on Anchor, and wait 21 days (plus three days) to get more LUNA back. Note that burn on Anchor has to be a normal “slow” burn; instant burns will not work because the exchange rate is the same as TerraSwap.
Based on the 24-day (21 + three days processing from the Anchor burn) annualized return, the graph below shows the APY from arbitraging between different DEXs and Anchor.
Arbitrage between DEXs and Anchor APY vs. LUNA staking APY. Source:Flipside Crypto
Lido’s 8% APY from LUNA liquid staking is also added as a risk-free benchmark return comparison. During the month of December, the highest APY reached 80% on Dec. 27 and, since then, has decreased significantly, dropping below the risk-free return in the new year.
This could be because the increased popularity of Terra and more participation in different Terra protocols have helped rationalize prices across platforms, reducing price inefficiencies and arbitrage opportunities and consequently creating a fairer price.
Savvy investors are always watching for the next opportunity
As shown in the December 2021 historically observed swap data, LUNA/bLUNA arbitrage opportunities exist across different protocols on Terra. Traders can choose the riskier way to arbitrage among different DEX platforms such as TerraSwap, Astroport and Loop Markets, or they can choose the safer way to arbitrage between these DEX platforms and Anchor, given they are willing to hold bLUNA for 24 days.
The annualized return from the DEX and Anchor arbitrage strategy consistently performed better than the risk-free Lido liquid staking in December 2021 until only recently when the return almost evaporated on Jan. 1, 2022.
This was possibly due to more participation and price rationalization in the Terra protocols. Возможно, арбитражные возможности вновь появятся в будущем из-за волатильности объемов торговли и участия или запуска новых протоколов DEX.
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