Welcome to Finance Redefined, your weekly dose of essential insights into decentralized finance (DeFi) – a newsletter designed to bring you the most important updates from the previous week.
During a fireside chat at ETHDenver, Commissioner Hester Pierce of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) emphasized the need for more decentralization, stating that centralization brings concentrated risks.
In a recent report by PeckShield, it was revealed that an attacker took control of the Ethereum staking contract on the Shido blockchain and transferred out billions of Shido (SHIDO) tokens.
According to a new report from Immunefi, Ethereum was the most targeted blockchain by hackers in February 2024, accounting for 85% of the value lost.
The top 100 DeFi tokens continued their bullish momentum, with the total value locked in DeFi protocols surpassing $95 billion.
SEC Commissioner Pierce advocates for increased decentralization in the financial system
Commissioner Pierce, also known as “Crypto Mom,” expressed her support for more decentralization in the US financial system and a more lenient approach to crypto regulation and enforcement. She believes that decentralization benefits the financial system in the United States.
Increase in hacked funds in 2024 compared to 2023
According to a research report by Immunefi, over $200 million worth of cryptocurrency has been lost to hacks and rug pulls in 2024 thus far, across 32 individual incidents. This represents a 15.4% increase compared to January and February 2023, when $173 million worth of digital assets were stolen.
Stolen funds returned by Seneca stablecoin hacker after $6.4 million exploit
After exploiting an approval mechanism bug in the protocol’s smart contract, the hacker gained access to at least $6.4 million in digital assets. Seneca, the stablecoin protocol, offered a 20% bounty to the exploiter. However, hours after Seneca’s message, the hacker returned about 1,537 ETH, worth around $5.3 million, to the specified wallet address.
Shido token experiences a 94% drop as exploiter drains Ethereum staking contract
The token for the Shido blockchain plummeted by 94% in just 30 minutes following an exploit on its Ethereum-based staking contract. The exploit involved transferring the blockchain’s Ethereum staking contract to another address and upgrading it with a hidden function to withdraw staked tokens.
DeFi market overview
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView indicates that DeFi’s top 100 tokens had a bullish week, with most trading in the green on the weekly charts. The Total Value Locked (TVL) in DeFi protocols exceeded $95 billion for the first time in over a year.
Thank you for reading our summary of the most significant DeFi developments this week. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights, and education on this rapidly evolving space.