Venus
Credit · XVS
Venus is a major pooled money market, strongly associated with BNB Chain, that also issues the VAI stablecoin and supports cross-chain XVS.
Leading money market on BNB Chain.
Protocol TVL
$1.03B
+4.9% 24h
Latest data · 15 min delay
Risks identified
- Oracle
Venus has repeatedly suffered oracle/price-manipulation losses on low-liquidity collateral: the May 2021 XVS price spike drove $200M+ in liquidations and ~$100M bad debt, and the March 2026 THE (Thena) attack used a donation to inflate the vTHE exchange rate, leaving ~$2.15M bad debt. Thinly-traded listed assets remain an oracle attack surface.
- Collateral
Listing volatile or thinly-liquid long-tail assets as collateral (XVS in 2021, THE in 2026) has directly caused bad debt. Even with Isolated Pools segregating risk, aggressive collateral factors and supply caps on such assets can be gamed, socializing losses within a pool.
- Smart Contract
The March 2026 donation attack reportedly stemmed from a dismissed audit finding, and the protocol has a complex multi-component surface (Core Pool, Isolated Pools, PSM, converters, bridges, multichain governance). Contract bugs or unsafe parameter interactions can be exploited despite extensive audits.
- Reserve / Depeg
VAI is an overcollateralized synthetic stablecoin that has historically traded off its $1 peg, requiring interventions such as a stability fee and a USDT-backed Peg Stability Module. VAI's peg depends on collateral solvency and PSM liquidity, and can drift under stress.
- Governance
Concentrated XVS voting power and delegate-based governance mean a small set of large holders/delegates can steer risk parameters and emergency actions (e.g., votes to force-liquidate attacker wallets). This introduces centralization and potential misuse risk in an otherwise permissionless system.