Solana on-chain DEX Mango Markets is winding down its operations after reaching a settlement with the SEC, conducting governance votes, and dealing with legal issues caused by the 2022 vulnerability. Yesterday, Mango Markets announced through its X account that it was "closing the platform and it's time for users to close their positions." The move follows the governance proposal's requirement to "adjust interest rates and collateral" to end lending exposure on the platform, which will take effect on January 13.
On September 27, 2024, the SEC filed settlement charges against Mango DAO and the Blockworks Foundation, accusing them of selling unregistered securities. According to the SEC, Mango raised more than $70 million in August 2021 through the sale of MNGO governance tokens, violating the Securities Act of 1933. The SEC also accused Mango Labs of violating the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by acting as an unregistered broker. As part of the settlement, Mango DAO agreed to pay a $700,000 civil penalty, destroy MNGO tokens, and petition the exchange to delist the tokens. According to DefiLlama data, Mango Markets' TVL is $9 million, down 95.7% from its all-time high of $210 million in November 2021.
The closure of Mango Markets dates back to October 2022, when cryptocurrency trader Avraham "Avi" Eisenberg stole more than $100 million from the platform. Eisenberg subsequently returned $67 million, keeping $40 million of it. U.S. authorities arrested Eisenberg in December 2022, charging him with fraud and market manipulation. Eisenberg has been detained since his arrest, and his sentencing has been postponed several times until April 10, 2025. He faces up to 20 years in prison, as well as civil enforcement actions by the SEC and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. (Cointelegraph)
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