DeFi Is Having Its Worst Month Yet
Plus, Circle launches Nanopayments
gm, Defiers!
TL;DR:
- Wasabi suffers $5M+ exploit
- Circle rolls out fee-free Nanopayments
- PayPal reorg includes crypto division
- Energy Web Is Building the Verification Layer for Real-World Markets [MEDIA PARTNERSHIP]
Let’s dive in.
April proved to be crypto’s worst month ever for hacks and exploits. Not in terms of dollars stolen (if we count CeFi hacks like Bybit’s), but in terms of the sheer number of incidents.
In the past month (which still has some hours left as I type this), nearly 30 crypto platforms suffered hacks/exploits, with losses totaling $629.8 million, per DefiLlama. Some for “just” tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, some for hundreds of millions.
For decentralized protocols, it may be the worst month on record by value stolen (in USD) too.
Just today, security firm PeckShield reported that Wasabi Protocol had become the latest victim. The protocol’s admin key had been compromised, leading to it losing over $5M across multiple chains. Just the day before, Syndicate was hacked for ~$330K, also via a comprised private key. The same day, nearly $3.5M was drained from SWEAT.
DeFi analyst and Pink Brains co-founder Ignas observed that the recent hacks follow a particular pattern, targeting older, more niche protocols, often for relatively small amounts. Ignas points to the rise of AI tools in lowering the barriers (time, cost) to exploiting vulnerable protocols. “This will likely last until old, unmaintained projects are milked out of their last cents or the industry improves security,” they wrote on X.
The record exploit month highlights were of course Drift and Kelp, which nearly bookended the month and together accounted for ~$578 million, or 91.8% of April's total losses. They represent two of the largest exploits in DeFi ever, in dollar terms.
And what about users? Per DefiLlama, as of today, so far, zero funds have been returned across all 28 incidents from April.
The DeFi United effort is certainly making headlines as a new precedent, bringing together some of the most prominent protocols and individuals in a collective fundraising effort to fix the damage from the Kelp exploit. But with even DeFi’s largest player affected this month (if in an indirect way), it’s also stirring up debate about what DeFi needs to do better, and how the industry should move forward from here.
Stay safe,
Olivia, senior editor at The Defiant
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| TICKER | VALUE | 24H | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | BTC | $76,424 | ▲ 1.20% |
 | ETH | $2,263 | ▲ 1.27% |
 | XRP | $1.37 | ▲ 1.18% |
 | BNB | $617.92 | ▲ 0.65% |
 | SOL | $83.15 | ▲ 1.13% |
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The $300M DeFi Bailout: Heroic or Unsustainable?
Was DeFi United a bailout or just voluntary market coordination? The Defiant's Camila Russo is joined by Dean Eigenmann (Markets Inc.), binji (Ethereum Foundation), and David Phelps (Confetti) to debate whether crypto bailouts are good for crypto, what this means for decentralization, and what DeFi must fix before it can scale to the mainstream.
Watch the full debate here:
Wasabi Loses $5M+ in Latest DeFi Exploit
On-chain perpetual futures protocol Wasabi has been hacked with attackers draining over $5 million across Ethereum, Base, Berachain, and Blast, blockchain security firm PeckShield reported.
Why it matters: The hack caps off a brutal month for DeFi, marked by two major exploits and over twenty smaller incidents.
Circle Launches Gas-Free 'Nanopayments' on Mainnet Across 11 Blockchains
Circle has rolled out Nanopayments on mainnet following its testnet debut, offering a gas-free USDC payment rail designed to power AI agents, APIs, and machine-driven commerce.
Why it matters: The product is squarely aimed at the agentic economy, where software agents pay per API call, per second, or per dataset read.
PayPal Elevates Crypto to Core Business in Strategic Reorganization
PayPal Holdings is restructuring around three operating divisions: Checkout Solutions & PayPal, Consumer Financial Services & Venmo, and Payment Services & Crypto,
Why it matters: The reorganization marks the first time PayPal has given crypto a dedicated home inside its corporate structure.
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- Developers of Telegram's Crypto Wallet Launch Agentic Wallets
- Ostium Launches Institutional Hedging Layer
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