As described by analysts at Lookonchain on Nov. 22, tokens of decentralized exchange Curve Finance (CRV) appear to have suffered a major short-seller attack. According to Lookonchain, ponzishorter.eth, an address associated with Mango Markets exploiter Avraham Eisenberg, first swapped 40 million USD Coin (USDC) on Nov. 13 into decentralized finance protocol Aave to borrow CRV for selling. The act allegedly sent the price of CRV falling from $0.625 to $0.464 during the week. Fast forward to today, blockchain data shows that ponzishorter.eth borrowed a further 30 million CRV ($14.85 million) through two transactions and transferred them to OKEx for selling. …

There's no escaping it: the DeFi markets have cooled down over the past year. After breaking $180 billion in total value locked last November — coinciding with Bitcoin racing to a new all-time high of $68,700 — data from DeFiLlama shows the collective value of this market has now dwindled to around $40 billion. Nonetheless, experts remain bullish on the potential of decentralized finance. Protocols are continuing to build furiously during the bear market — ensuring that they'll be in a strong position for the next wave of adoption. And although this recent contraction has scared away some retail investors, …

Detained Tornado Cash developer Alexsey Pertsev will spend another three months in custody in the Netherlands, according to a court hearing held on Nov. 22. Cointelegraph attended a preliminary court hearing at the Palace of Justice in s'Hertogenbosch, which outlined the basis of the case against Pertsev after 103 days in custody. The prosecution outlined a broad overview of its investigation, painting Pertsev as a central figure in Tornado Cash's operation before Advocate WK Cheng delivered his first defensive argument. Cheng highlighted several points outlining Tornado Cash's use cases and misconceptions around its functionality. "I'm disappointed about the decision from …

A faked video of Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has circulated on Twitter attempting to scam investors affected by the exchange’s bankruptcy. Created using programs to emulate Bankman-Fried’s likeness and voice, the poorly made “deepfake” video attempts to direct users to a malicious site under the promise of a “giveaway” that will “double your cryptocurrency.” Over the weekend, a verified account posing as FTX founder SBF posted dozens of copies of this deepfake video offering FTX users "compensation for the loss" in a phishing scam designed to drain their crypto wallets pic.twitter.com/3KoAPRJsya — Jason Koebler (@jason_koebler) …

The crypto market has witnessed a turbulent few weeks after the FTX collapse but Lido Finance, a liquid staking protocol, has been a bright spot amidst the chaos. According to Data from DeFiLlama, Lido protocol has earned $1 million or more in fees daily since October 26. Lido fees and revenue over time. Lido has collected over $1M in fees every day since October 26th pic.twitter.com/GHkzSzYIOo — DefiLlama.com (@DefiLlama) November 18, 2022 Let’s analyze the on-chain fundamentals to see why this trend has continued. What’s behind Lido Finance’s growth? Lido’s growth started in May 2021, pre-FTX collapse. The fees reached …

The rapid implosion of FTX has led general investors and crypto believers alike to question the validity of crypto and, indeed, predict its end. But, an understanding of history points not to crypto’s demise but rather a move toward new technology and growth. Financial markets move, as Willie Nelson once said, in phases and stages, circles and cycles. Companies develop ideas, grow quickly, ignite unwarranted investor euphoria and then implode — only to seed the ground for the next company, the next idea and the next growth phase. Crypto is no different. In 2010, an unknown person famously used Bitcoin …

According to blockchain analysis company Chainalysis, funds stolen from the FTX crypto exchange are now being converted from ETH into Bitcoin. On Nov. 20, Chainalysis took to Twitter to encourage exchanges to freeze these coins, should the thief attempt to convert them into fiat or further obfuscate the assets through other means. 1/ Funds stolen from FTX are on the move and exchanges should be on high alert to freeze them if the hacker attempts to cash out — Chainalysis (@chainalysis) November 20, 2022 Amid the controversial collapse and bankruptcy of FTX, news broke that an unknown actor had stolen …

The University of Edinburgh and Input Output Global (IOG), the builder of the Cardano network, have teamed up to create a blockchain decentralization index, IOG announced on its blog. The new service is the first of its kind and will use a “research-based” methodology developed at the university. The Edinburgh Decentralization Index (EDI) has been in development for several months and was introduced in Edinburgh on Nov. 18, but it is not yet operational, according to IOG: “The first step for the tracker is the creation of research papers detailing decentralization metrics and a considered methodology for compiling them into …

By creating an alternative financial system with extraordinary flexibility and innovation in less than ten years, Web3 has astounded the globe. Economic and cryptographic primitives such as smart contracts and consensus mechanisms have helped to create an open-source system to conduct and authorize financial transactions. However, the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem cannot support straightforward contracts like an apartment lease because it lacks a native Web3 identity. This article aims to demonstrate how even modest advances toward social identity representation with soulbound tokens could circumvent these constraints and reroute Web3 to an authentic, more transformational path. What are soulbound tokens (SBTs)? …

Welcome to Finance Redefined, your weekly dose of essential decentralized finance (DeFi) insights — a newsletter crafted to bring you significant developments over the last week. The FTX collapse has created a sense of uncertainty among large and retail investors alike, who are not very sure whether they should keep their funds on centralized exchanges or not. The dilemma has led to a major uptick among DeFi protocols and decentralized exchanges. DeFi protocols and decentralized exchange (DEX) platforms gained some momentum in the aftermath of the FTX implosion. A new report from Delphi Digital suggests DEX platforms gained 24% volume …

The cryptocurrency sector is the Wild Wild West in comparison to traditional finance, yet a number of banks are showing interest in digital assets and decentralized finance (DeFi). This year in particular has been notable for banks exploring digital assets. Most recently, JPMorgan demonstrated how DeFi can be used to improve cross-border transactions. This came shortly after BNY Mellon — America’s oldest bank — announced the launch of its Digital Asset Custody Platform, which allows select institutional clients to hold and transfer Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). The Clearing House, a United States banking association and payments company, stated on …

DeFi is supposed to be the great recalibrator of finance. It is supposed to offer people a better alternative to traditional centralized financial tools and services. Recently, we've all seen how centralized services can result in catastrophic losses for users due to lack of transparency. However, as it stands now, using DeFi protocols can be extremely time-consuming, confusing and ineffective. Many of the problems in the space can be traced to the way it has developed. There are now a multitude of networks that each have their own ecosystems and platforms with which they integrated. While this has led to …