Over the past few months, Aurora Cannabis (ACB) has taken several steps to enact a U-turn for its ailing business. Along with a reverse stock split to ensure it remains listed on the New York Stock Exchange, it has closed some of its smaller facilities, as well as put the brakes on the construction of two new sites.
Another move has been to acquire Reliva, which has given it access to the U.S. CBD space. That acquisition brought with it Reliva’s CEO, Miguel Martin, who Aurora has just appointed as its new Chief Commercial Officer.
Weighing in on the appointment, Jeffries analyst Owen Bennett is not sure the right choice was made.
“While we don't doubt Mr. Martin is very capable, and has past experience that is very relevant for this position, there could be some disappointment that the position did not go to someone more high profile,” the analyst said.
The past year has been a rough ride for the company that was once one of the most promising Canadian cannabis stocks. Along with a share price that has been slashed by 86%, there has been a mass exodus of top brass, including a co-founder and CEO, another co-founder and President, and a COO. However, the changing of the guard is in line with other cannabis companies’ attempts to gain credibility and trust among investors, after most companies in the fledgling industry have been unable, so far, to fulfill earlier promises.
As a result, Bennett argues, the type of management that takes hold of the reins “is critical for sentiment and the outlook of these businesses.”
Although Bennett likes Martin’s background in regulated industries such as cigarettes and vapes, the analyst believes most of Martin’s experience “appears to be heavily focused on gas stations and convenience stores.”
What Bennett thinks investors might have been hoping for is a different type of CCO. “Experience across a variety of different industries, and across multiple product categories and distribution channel, as well as experience at c-suite level of a major CPG company, may have been preferred,” the analyst said.
Bennett hopes the appointment of the new CEO, to which attention now shifts, will be more on point.
No change, then, to Bennett’s rating, which remains an Underperform (i.e. Sell). The price target stays as is, too, and at C$14 ($10.33) represents possible downside of 16%. (To watch Bennett’s track record, click here)
Among Bennett’s colleagues, Aurora has a Hold consensus rating, based on 3 Buys, 11 Holds and 1 Sell. At C$17.16 ($12.61), the average price target suggests shares have modest upside of 4% from current levels. (See Aurora stock analysis on TipRanks)
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Fresh pastures are opening in the world of yield farming.
Kyber, a decentralized exchange (DEX), is preparing to share trading fees with KNC token holders. Launched Tuesday, KyberDAO will let users stake KNC and earn yields in more KNC, proportional to their stake.
Yields wonât actually kick in for about two more weeks, but participants will need to participate in voting in the week prior in order to start accruing earnings.Â
Related: New Enterprise Ethereum Director Widens Tent to Include Exchanges and DeFi
A growing trend in decentralized finance (DeFi) has been for users with significant holdings to earn returns by contributing those assets to DeFi applications that need liquidity. Launched in 2017, Kyber has always been designed as a DEX that connects liquidity with users, without middlemen.Â
Read more: What Is Yield Farming? The Rocket Fuel of DeFi, Explained
A fee of 0.20% on each trade made on Kyber will be paid out to various parties. Of that, 65% will go to those who have staked on the DAO, 30% will go to entities providing liquidity on-chain for Kyber and 5% will be used to buy KNC and burn it, gradually increasing the value of KNC.
Kyberâs daily trading volume over the last month has been as high as $9 million and as low as over $2.4 million. DeFi Pulse lists it as the fifth-largest DEX in terms of total value locked (TVL), with $6.6 million. Itâs worth noting Kyber is not limited to liquidity directly on-chain, but also makes it easy for other liquidity providers to access Kyberâs orders.
Yield farming a DEX?Related: DeFi Driving Chainlinkâs Link Token to Record Highs
With KyberDAO, the company is giving an incentive for more users to hold onto their KNC and actively participate in governance. As in most such setups, users can do this easily by delegating their stake to another entity that will cast votes for them.Â
KyberDAO is part of a broader upgrade on the DEX called Katalyst.Â
There has been a general uptick of interest in DEXs thanks to the broader surge in DeFi. More broadly, thereâs just a lot of activity on Ethereum right now.Â
Read more: DeFiâs âAgricultural Revolutionâ Has Ethereum Users Turning to Decentralized Exchanges
For now, Kyber provides a way for DeFi apps and people to make trades straight from their wallets, but the vision is bigger than enabling users to play the market. Kyber anticipates a bright future for payments in various crypto tokens. By providing incentives to get enough liquidity on-chain, one day vendors could accept any token for any payment.
Parafi Capital recently announced an investment in Kyber. As Parafiâs Ben Powers told CoinDesk in an email:Â
âKyber is growing rapidly across a variety of KPIs [key performance indicators] â monthly trades, monthly unique traders, number of integrations, and monthly trading volumes. The team is executing flawlessly and is well-positioned to capitalize on the growth of the broader DeFi ecosystem.â
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