Market Outlook March 24: SPX, DXY, BTC, ETH, XRP, BNB, SOL, DOGE, ADA, LINK

On March 24, markets showed mixed signals as investors assessed macroeconomic factors and crypto-specific developments. The S&P 500 (SPX) and the U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) remained closely watched indicators, while major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), XRP, Binance Coin (BNB), Solana (SOL), Dogecoin (DOGE), Cardano (ADA), and Chainlink (LINK) experienced varied price movements amid ongoing volatility.

DeFi Protocol Nostra Pauses Borrowing After Price Feed Error

Nostra, a decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocol operating on Ethereum layer-2 network Starknet, has temporarily halted borrowing against two liquid staking tokens—xSTRK and sSTRK—due to a critical issue with its price feeds.

On March 24, Nostra identified errors in its price feed that inflated the reported prices of xSTRK and sSTRK tokens to approximately three times their actual market value. This significant discrepancy posed a risk of unnecessary liquidations for users holding otherwise healthy positions.

In response, Nostra immediately disabled further borrowing against these tokens and advised users to withdraw their existing xSTRK and sSTRK collateral deposits as soon as possible.

Nostra stated:

“Since we don’t have a secondary (fallback) oracle to support these assets, as none are available, we are unable to fully prevent similar events from occurring in the future. Our priority has always been and continues to be to keep existing user funds safe, and with no fallback oracle, the risks outweigh the benefits.”

About Starknet and Nostra

Starknet is an Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution secured by zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs, launched in late 2021. It currently holds approximately $575 million in total value locked (TVL), according to data from L2Beat.

Nostra is among the prominent DeFi protocols on Starknet, with a TVL of around $55 million. Users typically deposit collateral in one token to borrow another. Popular collateral tokens on Nostra include Ether (ETH), Starknet’s native STRK token, and stablecoins such as USDC and USDT.

xSTRK and sSTRK are liquid staking derivatives issued by independent DeFi protocols Endur and Nimbura, respectively, allowing users to stake STRK tokens and maintain liquidity.

Quick Summary

• Nostra paused borrowing against xSTRK and sSTRK due to inflated price feeds.
• Price feed errors inflated token values by approximately three times their actual market price.
• Users advised to withdraw collateral immediately to avoid unnecessary liquidations.
• No fallback oracle available, increasing future risk.
• Starknet is a popular Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution with significant DeFi activity.