Solana-based decentralized finance projects Step Finance, SolanaFloor, and Remora Markets are ceasing operations. The announcement follows a late January hack that resulted in the loss of 261,854 SOL, valued at approximately $29 million at the time. This security breach led to a dramatic 96% devaluation of Step Finance's native STEP token.
Step Finance, launched in 2021, functioned as a portfolio manager within the Solana ecosystem. It had expanded to include SolanaFloor, a news outlet for the Solana network, and Remora Markets, a platform for tokenized stocks. The hack occurred when treasury wallet stake authorization was compromised.
In a statement, Step Finance indicated that despite exploring financing and acquisition avenues, no viable path forward was found. The project is arranging a buyback for STEP token holders based on a pre-incident snapshot and a redemption process for Remora rToken holders, assuring that Remora tokens remain fully backed.
Co-founder George Harrap described the closure as a "difficult day," with his immediate priority being the team's future. He noted interest from parties looking to acquire parts of the businesses but emphasized the time constraints.
The closure of Step Finance is part of a growing trend of decentralized finance platforms winding down. Last week, the lending platform ZeroLend announced its shutdown, citing operational challenges, declining on-chain activity, infrastructure issues, and rising security risks. Other projects like yield farm Alpaca Finance and derivatives platform Polynomial have also ceased operations in the past year.
Industry observers point to structural issues within crypto markets, including fragmented liquidity and tokens lacking clear utility, as contributing factors to these widespread closures.