Cryptocurrencies

Crypto Exchange Gets Millions After Copy-Paste of a Rival’s Code

‘Come-to-Jesus’ moment for DeFi finance apps rocks valuations
SushiSwap’s use of Uniswap’s code exemplifies challenges

Nvidia Corp. GeForce GTX 1070 graphic processing units (GPU) sit stacked inside a 'mining rig' computer, used to mine the Ethereum cryptocurrency, in Budapest, Hungary, on Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018. Cryptocurrencies are not living up to their comparisons with gold as a store of value, tumbling Monday as an equities sell-off in Asia extended the biggest rout in global stocks in two years.Photographer: Akos Stiller/Bloomberg

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By Olga Kharif

September 11, 2020 at 6:37 PM UTC

Updated on

September 11, 2020 at 6:48 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Over the past few months, investors poured billions into hundreds of so-called decentralized-finance apps, which let users lend, borrow and trade cryptocurrencies without intermediaries like banks. Then Sushi happened.

The story of Sushi, a project that’s only a few weeks old, illustrates at once the risks of DeFi’s copy-and-paste culture and the fact that the industry isn’t as decentralized as touted. Back in August, an anonymous entity that goes by Chef Nomi copied the code of another DeFi project, Uniswap, and launched an exchange dubbed SushiSwap. The only difference was that the latter offered its own token, named Sushi, which lured hundreds of millions in user funds within days.