Welcome to Finance Redefined, your weekly digest of essential insights into decentralized finance (DeFi) – a newsletter designed to bring you the most significant happenings from the past week.
The previous week in DeFi witnessed the conviction of Tornado Cash developer, Alexey Pertsev, for money laundering, resulting in a prison sentence of over five years.
In other news, Binance has found a solution to the notorious address poisoning scam, Polymarket has secured $70 million in funding from investors such as Vitalik Buterin and Peter Thiel, and DeFi faces a challenging future in the European Union.
Tornado Cash developer found guilty of money laundering
Alexey Pertsev, the creator of the cryptocurrency mixing protocol Tornado Cash, has been found guilty of money laundering. This verdict has significant implications for open-source code developers.
On May 14, Dutch judges at the s-Hertogenbosch Court of Appeal ruled Pertsev guilty of money laundering. He has been sentenced to five years and four months in prison for allegedly laundering $1.2 billion worth of illicit assets on the platform.
DeFi may encounter difficulties in maintaining decentralization due to new EU regulations
New regulations in the European Union may soon impose challenges on DeFi protocols. The primary concern lies in the centralized front-ends and intermediaries commonly found in many DeFi protocols.
The Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) by the EU, which will be fully implemented by the end of 2024, will require DeFi protocols to comply with the same licensing and Know Your Customer requirements as traditional financial service firms. This could be a burden that numerous DeFi protocols may struggle to bear.
Binance develops a remedy for address poisoning scams following a $68 million exploit
Binance’s security experts have devised a solution to the increasing instances of address poisoning scams, which deceive investors into willingly sending funds to fraudulent addresses.
According to a report shared with Cointelegraph, the exchange’s security team has developed an algorithm capable of detecting millions of poisoned crypto addresses.
Polymarket secures $70 million from Vitalik Buterin and Founders Fund
Polymarket, a platform that enables betting on political events, has successfully raised $70 million in funding, with prominent investors including Peter Thiel’s venture capital firm, Founders Fund, and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin leading the way.
As reported by Bloomberg, Polymarket raised a total of $70 million through two funding rounds, with the latest Series B round led by Founders Fund, raising $45 million.
DeFi market overview
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView indicates that the top 100 DeFi tokens by market capitalization had a mixed week, with most experiencing positive growth on the weekly charts. The total value locked in DeFi protocols remains above $90 billion.
Thank you for reading our recap of the most significant DeFi developments from this week. Join us again next Friday for more stories, insights, and education on this rapidly evolving space.