Fei Protocol
Its launch took in 639,000 ETH; 16 months later its makers proposed a wind-down
A dollar stablecoin on Ethereum, FEI, built by the startup Fei Labs, backed by reserves the protocol itself held and governed by holders of the TRIBE token.
- Capital raised (announced)
Recorded announced backing; this is separate from cash received, customer deposits and money recovered.
- ETH committed by the public at launch
ETH committed during 31 March–3 April 2021 Genesis, announced by Fei Labs and reported by outlets; reserves backing FEI, not project revenue.
- Launch participants
Contributors reported at the April 2021 Genesis launch; counting method unspecified. Not continuing users.
Funding
| Round | Date | Announced | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Venture round | 2021 |
Announced is what was said at the time. Cash actually received is rarely disclosed and is not assumed to match.
People
| Name | Role | Period | Now | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joey Santoro | — | Building at the Network School | Oct 2026 |
Timeline
3 April 2021
The event opened on 31 March. FEI traded well below its $1 target in the first day after launch.
December 2021
Rari Capital's governance token was converted into TRIBE.
30 April 2022
Fei Protocol offered the attacker a $10 million bounty to return the funds.
19 August 2022
How it ended
Fei Labs proposed in August 2022 that the protocol be wound down: FEI would become redeemable one-for-one for the DAI stablecoin, remaining reserves would be distributed pro rata to TRIBE holders, governance would end, and Fei Labs would stop taking part in the Tribe DAO. Its founder cited technical, financial and potential future regulatory risks; the proposal also named a challenging market and the hack of Rari Capital's Fuse pools earlier that year. The redemption was later carried out through an on-chain governance vote.
What happened next
- Recovery20 September 2022
The on-chain vote passed with 99% in favour and was executed two days later. The payment was 12.68 million FEI to individual users and 26.61 million DAI to DAOs; recipients had to sign a release of liability.
- Recovery20 September 2022
A poll on the last steps of the wind-down was posted on 20 September 2022. The redemption proposal that followed, executed on-chain, moved 51.45 million DAI into an immutable contract swapping FEI for DAI one-for-one at no fee, and sent the remaining 30.67 million DAI, 50,300 stETH and other assets to a contract where TRIBE holders could claim a pro-rata share with no deadline. Its execution date is not visible in the retrieved record.
Still alive
Open spot
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Sources
13 sources behind this page.
- 1The Biggest Shutdown · Bankless · Aug 2022
- 2Coinbase, Naval, Framework Ventures Back $19M Raise for a Capital-Efficient Stablecoin · CoinDesk · Mar 2021
- 3Fei Labs raises 639K ETH in genesis event · Cointelegraph · Apr 2021
- 4Fei Protocol founder proposes ghosting Tribe DAO following hack repayment · Cointelegraph · Aug 2022
- 5Tribe DAO votes in favor of repaying victims of $80M Rari hack · Cointelegraph · Sep 2022
- 6Fei Labs Raised Almost $1.3 Billion for Decentralized Stablecoin—Now Some Investors are Stuck · Decrypt · Apr 2021
- 7Fei Labs FEI Stablecoin Genesis Nets $1.3B: DeFi's Biggest Launch Ever? · Finance Magnates · Apr 2021
- 8fei-protocol-core: contributors · GitHub
- 9GitHub profile: Joeysantoro · GitHub (self-published profile) · Sep 2026
- 10Tribe kills DAO, overrules vote to pay crypto debt · Protos
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- 11TIP-121c: Start FEI and TRIBE Redemption · Tally (on-chain governance record of the Tribe DAO, archived)
- 12This Week in Governance (September 2022) · This Week in Governance (Substack newsletter) · Sep 2022
- 13Top Decentralized Stablecoin Fei (FEI) Might Be Shut Down Soon · U.Today · Aug 2022
Every figure above is clickable and opens the sources behind it. Copies were stored when each source was read, so a citation still resolves after the page it came from is gone.