Welcome to Finance Redefined, your weekly dose of essential insights into decentralized finance (DeFi) – a newsletter designed to bring you the most significant happenings from the previous week.
Although the DeFi sector is often associated with hacks and exploits, losses from these incidents saw a significant decline of 67% in April, amounting to $60 million compared to March’s $187 million stolen. Notably, the hackers behind Hundred Finance moved the stolen funds for the first time in almost a year after the initial exploit.
In other news, Stacks, a Bitcoin layer-2 platform, experienced its highest number of active users as interest in Bitcoin DeFi, or BTCFi, soared.
The top 100 DeFi tokens had a bearish week, but ended on a positive note with a surge of bullish momentum. However, the total value locked in DeFi protocols remained below $90 billion.
Losses from crypto hacks plummet by 67% in April, totaling $60 million
The value of hacked cryptocurrency dropped significantly by 67% in April, amounting to $60.2 million. This marks a notable decrease in crypto attacks and represents the first major decline of the year 2024.
Compared to the $187.6 million hacked in March, this 67% decline is substantial, especially when considering the $360.8 million worth of digital assets that were hacked in February. These figures were revealed in a post by on-chain security firm PeckShield on May 1.
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Stacks records all-time high in active accounts amidst growing interest in Bitcoin DeFi
Leading Bitcoin layer-2 network Stacks achieved a record-breaking number of active users, driven by the increasing interest in Bitcoin-native DeFi.
During April, Stacks reached an all-time high of 122,497 active accounts. These active accounts are addresses that have conducted at least one transaction, as stated in a post by Bitcoin (BTC) data provider Signal 21 on May 2.
This record-breaking account count signifies a growing interest in BTCFi and follows the 2024 Bitcoin halving as well as the launch of Runes, a new protocol for issuing fungible tokens on the Bitcoin network.
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Hacker behind Hundred Finance exploit moves stolen assets after a year
The hacker who stole $7.4 million from the DeFi protocol Hundred Finance has finally started transferring the crypto assets after a year of inactivity.
On May 1, the hacker moved Ether (ETH) and Tether (USDT), worth approximately $800,000, from Curve’s decentralized exchange. This transfer occurred after the hacker provided liquidity on the platform over a year ago.
Following the withdrawal of the funds, the hacker converted USDT and other cryptocurrencies into ETH, increasing their ETH balance by over $1 million.
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Curve Finance rewards developer $250,000 for discovering vulnerability
A security researcher, Marco Croc from Kupia Security, was rewarded with $250,000 for uncovering a vulnerability that has historically allowed hackers to withdraw millions of dollars from cryptocurrency protocols.
Croc identified a reentrancy vulnerability in the DeFi protocol Curve Finance. In a thread, he explained how this bug could be exploited to manipulate balances and withdraw funds from liquidity pools.
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DeFi market overview
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView indicates that the top 100 DeFi tokens by market capitalization experienced a bearish week, with most of them trading in the red on the weekly charts. As a result, the total value locked in DeFi protocols dropped below $90 billion.
Thank you for reading our summary of the most impactful DeFi developments of the week. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights, and education regarding this rapidly evolving space.