The rise of SushiSwap: How a crypto copycat made it to Coinbase

SushiSwap went through a bumpy road to achieve its listing on Coinbase. Trading on this platform will open SUSHI to a broader audience, which could positively impact its price.

From exit scams to landing on Coinbase

The “yield farming” mania put many DeFi projects on the map, including SushiSwap. Launched in late August 2020 as a fork of Uniswap by an anonymous developer, “Chef Nomi,” SushiSwap gained massive traction. 

Soon, it was listed by the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance. According to CEO Changpeng Zhao, with the early listing, the trading platform was trying to remain competitive to capitalize on the market’s demands before traffic went to other exchanges. However, a rug pull or an exit scam of sorts was brewing behind the scenes.

Tired of the non-stop complaints about SUSHI from the community, Chef Nomi decided to remove his liquidity from the SUSHI/ETH pool by converting 5.02 million tokens to Ether, worth $14 million at the time. 

Nomi’s justification was that this wasn’t any different than what Litecoin creator Charlie Lee had done when he sold his LTC holding around the peak of the 2017 bull market. However, retail investors thought otherwise as they panic sold SUSHI, pushing its price down by more than 50%.

While things seemed bleak, FTX’s founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), decided to step in. After receiving control of Nomi’s project, nine prominent members of the community were selected to be the holders of a multi-sig wallet that controls the project’s funds. 

Since that point, SushiSwap has been working without any glitches or controversies.

The most recent development surrounding SushiSwap is Coinbase’s decision to list SUSHI. Coinbase announced that SUSHI deposits are open, but trading will begin on Thursday, March 11, at 17:00 GMT, only if liquidity requirements are met.

So, in a nutshell, SushiSwap’s journey has been nothing short of a rollercoaster ride. As for SUSHI price, it pumped a massive 450% during the recent bull run. 

SushiSwap price primed to rise as whales accumulate 

SushiSwap price has been creating a series of higher highs, but its ascent is relatively low. In the last 30 days, SUSHI has seen a meager 50% increase in its price. Surprisingly, the Coinbase listing did not move its market value a lot.

SUSHI/USDT 12-hour chart

Regardless, addresses holding between 100,000 to 1,000,000 SUSHI have increased by 18% in the last 48 hours. Roughly seven new whales have joined the network within such a short period. If buying pressure continues mounting, SushiSwap price will likely catch up soon.

SushiSwap holders distribution chart

Adding credence to this bullish momentum is IntoTheBlock’s In/Out of the Money Around Price (IOMAP) model, which shows little to no resistance ahead for the altcoin. 

If bulls manage to push SUSHI price above the recent all-time high at $20.73, it will likely see a 20% upswing to the 127.2% Fibonacci retracement level at $25.5. Another spike in buying pressure here could lead to a 25% ascent to $31.57, which coincides with the 161.8% Fibonacci retracement level.

SushiSwap IOMAP chart

Investors should note that if whales decide to off-load their holdings, SushiSwap price could break below the immediate support barrier at 17.50. Here, the IOMAP cohorts show that  3,500 addresses hold roughly 40 million SUSHI. 

Further selling pressure might lead to a pullback to the $16.30 price level where approximately 1,440 addresses had purchased nearly 48 million SUSHI.