😨 DeFi Trembles Post Hack: DeFi Week of July 31

Aya Kantorovich is the co-CEO and co-founder of Fractal, which is an infrastructure provider enabling institutions to clear, settle, and margin digital asset trades onchain. In today's podcast Aya shares her founder journey at Fractal, the impact of the FTX collapse on institutional players, DeFi growth since many CeFi companies imploded, how Fractal is red pilling institutions, as well as her prediction on how many institutions will be cosseting crypto and having tokens on the balance sheet in 5 to 10 years time and so much more.

We spent a day at Jesse's hacker house during EthCC [6], where only a few have access. We discovered and documented the inner workings of the Rust house where complex engineering problems are tackled. But, there's more than meets the eye with this lot.

Is DeFi in Trouble? Curve Exploit Explained

Curve has made headlines once again after a software exploit resulted in $1.5bn of outflows and put a further $100m at risk. According to DefiLlama, nearly half of all the cryptocurrency deposited on curve finance has since been removed. So, what’s a re-entrancy attack, and what went wrong?

Richard 'Heart'broken by SEC - is HEX in trouble?

You’ve likely seen Richard Heart sharing his lavish life with luxury cars and designer clothes on social media. That may all be about to stop, because the SEC has charged Richard Heart with ‘’illegally raising over $1 billion, and defrauding investors out of $12.1 million. The case argues he did this to buy luxuries including the world's largest black diamond. So, did the SEC get it right?

The Defiant Guide to Finding Alpha at Crypto Conferences

Alpha is the edge that knowledgeable investors have, the insights or strategies that generate superior returns. But let's be real, finding that alpha isn't a walk in the park. Attending even top-tier conferences like ETHCC doesn't guarantee you'll stumble upon it, you need a strategy.

In today's video, we're here to give you a leg up. We're laying out a clear, concise 5-step guide on how to find alpha at any crypto conference you attend. So, buckle up, and let's dive right in.

• DeFi Lender Alchemix Says Vyper Hacker Returned Stolen Crypto: A hacker who was able to destabilize the DeFi ecosystem this week via their exploit has returned the stolen funds after the affected protocols offered a reward.

• Crypto Lenders Weigh Options To Deal With CRV Leverage Curve founder Michael Egorov has millions in crypto loans across various DeFi lending protocols, mostly collateralized with CRV tokens. With a sharp drop in CRV’s price placing Egorov's large loans at risk of liquidation, lending protocols are considering ways to reduce the outsized risks posed by these positions.
• Curve Founder Continues To Offload CRV In OTC Deals Curve founder Michael Egorov, who has the open finance space watching his every move this week as he scrambles to shore up DeFi loan positions, is continuing to send millions of CRV tokens to various addresses in over-the-counter (OTC) trades. An estimated 110M CRV worth $44M has been sold so far, according to a Dune dashboard tracking the deals.
• MetaMask Enables Staking Feature In Portfolio App MetaMask, the leading web3 wallet, has launched a new feature in its Portfolio app, allowing users to easily stake Ether and Polygon’s MATIC token to secure their respective networks and earn rewards. Users can compare staking rates in the app or diversify their staked asset exposure across various providers from a single dashboard.

• Seven Major Asset Managers File Ethereum ETF Applications Asset management firms are rushing to apply for Ethereum ETFs, with analysts inferring the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is softening its stance toward digital assets. The SEC has now received seven applications for exchange-traded funds (ETFs) offering exposure to Ether futures from six issuers in the past few days.
• Coinbase Layer 2 Base to Open Access for all Users on August 9 Base, the Layer 2 network from Coinbase, announced its general access mainnet launch will take place on August 9. Base said its network will host more than 50 “leading brands, platforms, marketplaces, artists, and creators” at launch, including Coca-Cola, Atari, and OpenSea.
• DeFi Lenders Spooked By Curve Exploit The fallout from a $70M exploit of Curve Finance earlier this week continues to ripple through DeFi, with major lending platforms facing a liquidity crunch. On Aave, DeFi’s leading money market with nearly $5B in total value locked (TVL), borrowing costs for major stablecoins are at their highest levels in over a year.
• Starbucks' New NFT Collection Holds Up Amid Depressed Market Starbucks, the world's largest coffeehouse chain, has launched an NFT collection and initial buyers are holding on to their collectibles.

• IRS Rules Staking Rewards Are Immediately Taxable, Web3 Advocates Push Back Web3 advocates are pushing back against a recent ruling from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service declaring that staking rewards are immediately taxable. On July 31, the IRS published its Revenue Ruling 2023-14, mandating that stakers report rewards accrued as income when they gain control over said assets.
• Litecoin Completes Third-Ever Block Reward Halving Litecoin, the second-oldest blockchain network, completed its third block reward halving on Wednesday. The Litecoin network will now issue 6.25 LTC as rewards for miners with each block, down from 12.5 LTC.
• Tether Reports $850M Profit In Second Quarter Tether Holdings Limited, the company that issues USDT, crypto’s largest stablecoin with a market capitalization of $83.8B, reported $850M in second-quarter profits on July 31. Most of Tether’s profits come from its Treasury bills, which make up roughly 64% of Tether’s reserves.

• Large CRV-backed Loans Threaten to Destabilize DeFi Michael Egorov, the co-founder of Curve Finance, a major decentralized exchange, has been shuffling millions of dollars around DeFi in an apparent effort to avoid nine-figure liquidations. Egorov has over $90M in outstanding loans across lending platforms, primarily backed by CRV tokens.
• SEC Alleges Richard Heart Used Investor Funds To Fuel Shopping Spree On Monday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against Richard Schueler, known in crypto circles as Richard Heart, and his startups Hex, Pulsechain, and Pulsex. The lawsuit alleges that Heart conducted multiple unregistered securities offerings, raising more than $1B.

• Over $70M Stolen From Multiple DeFi Protocols Due To Vyper Code Bug Multiple DeFi protocols are reeling after vulnerabilities identified with the Vyper smart contract language led to hackers draining over $70M from Curve, Alchemix, and JPEG’d. Taylor Monahan, a MetaMask developer, estimates DeFi protocols have lost around $70M so far.
• Memecoin Traders Flock To Base Activity on Base, the Layer 2 network being developed by Coinbase, is exploding, with users bridging nearly $60M worth of Ether to the blockchain on July 30.
• Arkham Bounty Unearths $160M In Alleged Terra Wallets In a notable first for Arkham Intel Exchange, two anonymous on-chain sleuths have cracked open a significant case, earning the platform's inaugural bounty. The investigators provided evidence of undisclosed wallets holding over $160M in digital assets tied to Terraform Labs and its founder, Do Kwon.

• Proposed Ethereum Upgrade Could Allow Layer 2 Developers To Share Fee Revenue Multiple DeFi protocols are reeling after vulnerabilities identified with the Vyper smart contract language led to hackers draining over $70M from Curve, Alchemix, and JPEG’d. Taylor Monahan, a MetaMask developer, estimates DeFi protocols have lost around $70M so far.
• Securitize Launches Tokenized Spanish REIT Shares Securitize, a company specializing in bringing traditional securities on-chain, seeks to raise 150M EUR by issuing shares for Spain’s Mancipi S.A. real estate investment trust (REIT). Securitize plans to start trading and settlement for the tokenized shares around September in compliance with the European Union’s Distributed Ledger Technology Pilot Regime.