Welcome to Finance Redefined, a weekly newsletter designed to bring you the most important events of the past week, providing essential insights into decentralized finance (DeFi).
This week brought some worrying news. Cryptocurrency hackers are set to steal more than $1.2 billion in 2024, a 15.5% increase over 2023. Will they surpass the total value stolen in 2023?
In more positive news for investors, Celsius, a bankrupt crypto lender, has finally paid back two-thirds of its customers after paying back $2.53 billion to 251,000 creditors. Celsius owed a total of $3 billion to over 375,000 creditors.
Cryptocurrency Hackers to Steal $1.2 Billion by 2024: Immunefi
Cryptocurrency hackers stole more than $1.2 billion in an August breach, raising concerns about widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies.
The cryptocurrency industry has seen a total of $1.21 billion worth of digital assets stolen through hacks and extortions across 154 separate attacks through 2024.
This is a 15.5% increase compared to the total losses in the same period in 2023, when losses amounted to just $1 billion, according to an Immunefi report shared with Cointelegraph.
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Celsius to distribute $2.5 billion to 251,000 creditors amid bankruptcy proceedings
Celsius has repaid two-thirds of its eligible customers as part of its long-awaited bankruptcy proceedings.
According to an August 26 court filing, the bankrupt cryptocurrency lender has repaid approximately $2.53 billion to 251,000 creditors.
The amount represents approximately 84% of the $3 billion worth of assets owed to more than 375,000 creditors by the closed cryptocurrency lender.
The bankruptcy settlement is a positive development for the expanding cryptocurrency industry. It coincides with the bankruptcy proceedings of the Mt. Gox exchange, which owed more than $9.4 billion in cryptocurrency to 127,000 creditors. Ten years later, those creditors are finally starting to recoup their assets.
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Gavin Wood’s Biggest Hope: Free Cryptocurrency Trading Worldwide and Web3 Technology
Gavin Wood’s greatest hope is to make Web3 technology and cryptocurrencies socially beneficial public goods.
According to Wood, co-founder of Ethereum, Polkadot, and Kusama, for Web3 to truly achieve its purpose, cryptocurrency transactions must have no transaction fees.
In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph at the Web3 Summit in Berlin, Wood said:
“What I want most is to make (Web3) truly free for everyone to use.”
Wood’s soon-to-be-released tattoo-based Web3 personality solution, proof-of-ink, is a key part of his efforts to make cryptocurrencies and Web3 free to use worldwide.
Gavin Wood interviewed by Cointelegraph’s Zoltan Vardai. Source: youtube
DeFi Network Radix Team Cuts 15% of Staff Citing Need to “Refocus”
RDX Works, the team behind the Radix DeFi platform, has laid off 15% of its staff to cut costs.
The Radix Network launched its mainnet in July 2023 and provides developer tools to build and run decentralized applications and financial services on the blockchain.
The company’s CEO Piers Ridayard confirmed in a statement on the company’s official Telegram group on August 29 that the staff reductions were a “refocus” and part of a “more comprehensive set of changes we need to make.”
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PayPal’s PYUSD Stablecoin Reaches $1 Billion Market Cap
PayPal USD, PayPal’s US dollar-backed stablecoin, has surpassed $1 billion in market cap, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Launched in 2023, PayPal USD (PYUSD) is backed 1:1 by the US dollar and issued by Paxos Trust Company, a US-regulated cryptocurrency custodian. It competes with other regulated dollar-backed stablecoins such as Circle Internet Financial’s USD Coin (USDC).
“The transition to digital currency requires a stable medium that is digitally native, yet easily tied to fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar,” Dan Schulman, PayPal’s president and CEO, said in a 2023 statement.
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DeFi Market Overview
According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, most of the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap ended the week in decline.
Among the top 100 tokens, the Notcoin (NOT) token, a Telegram clicker game, was the biggest loser this week, down more than 22%, followed by the Ton-based mimecoin Dogs (DOGS), down more than 20% on the weekly chart.
Total value locked in DeFi. Source: DefiLlama
Thanks for reading our roundup of the most impactful DeFi developments of the week. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights, and education on this dynamic and evolving space.