Welcome to Finance Redefined, your weekly source of essential decentralized finance (DeFi) insights – a newsletter designed to keep you informed about the most significant developments from the past week.
In this week’s edition, the cumulative losses from crypto hacks and exploits have reached $19 billion over the last 13 years, with 785 documented incidents. Additionally, the Solana Foundation has taken action against validators involved in sandwich attacks against traders.
In another headline, Terraform Labs has made the decision to shut down its operations completely and transfer control to the Terra community following a $4.47 billion settlement with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Crypto hacks surge to $19 billion over 13 years: Crystal Intelligence
Over the past 13 years, the cryptocurrency industry has suffered 785 reported hacks and exploits.
A report from Crystal Intelligence, shared with Cointelegraph, reveals that nearly $19 billion in digital assets have been stolen since the first known crypto hack was reported on June 19, 2011. The largest single crypto theft case remains the 2019 Plus Token fraud, where attackers made off with $2.9 billion in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). In February 2024, the $290 million security breach on PlayDapp stood out as the largest single crypto heist in the past two years.
Curve founder repays 93% of $10 million bad debt from liquidation
Michael Egorov, the founder of DeFi protocol Curve Finance, has announced that he has repaid 93% of the $10 million in bad debt resulting from the protocol’s soft liquidation.
Following a successful real-world test of Curve Finance’s soft liquidation mechanism during a recent hacking attempt, Egorov faced $140 million in liquidations due to borrowing $95.7 million in stablecoins against $141 million in CRV across five accounts on five protocols.
Terraform Labs to cease operations, Terra community to take over
Chris Amani, CEO of Terraform Labs, has revealed that the company will be ending its operations after reaching a $4.47 billion settlement with the U.S. SEC.
The plan involves selling key projects within the Terra ecosystem and handing over control of the Terra blockchain to the community. The decision to dissolve Terraform Labs follows the settlement with the SEC related to the collapse of the algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) in 2022, which includes a substantial $3.58 billion disgorgement and a civil penalty of $420 million.
Solana takes action against validator sandwich attacks
The Solana Foundation has removed a group of validator operators from its delegation program due to their involvement in sandwich attacks targeting traders.
In a sandwich attack, a malicious trader manipulates the asset’s price by placing one order before a pending transaction and another immediately after, positioning the pending transaction between a front-run and a back-run to profit from the price difference.
DeFi market update
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView indicates that DeFi’s top 100 tokens by market capitalization had a bearish week, with most trading in the red on the weekly charts. The total value locked in DeFi protocols has reached $101 billion.
Thank you for staying informed on the most impactful DeFi developments of the week. Join us again next Friday for more stories, insights, and education on this rapidly evolving space.