Welcome to Finance Redefined, a weekly newsletter that provides essential insights into decentralized finance. This newsletter is designed to bring you the most important events of the past week.
This week brought more negative news for the DeFi space, with hackers stealing $230 million worth of digital assets from Indian crypto exchange WazirX in the second-largest crypto heist of the year.
Players of the viral Telegram-based clicker game Hamster Combat are also being targeted by malicious actors who are manipulating fake cryptocurrency airdrops.
One of the biggest wins for the industry was the shutdown of the infamous cryptocurrency phishing app Angel Drainer after the identity of its creator was discovered.
Finally, a trader who fell victim to a phishing attack 10 months ago was lucky enough to be compensated with $9.3 million worth of stablecoins stolen by the attackers in a suspicious but fortunate event.
WazirX Hacker Scammed $149 Million Worth of SHIB, MATIC, and Other Altcoins into ETH
The hacker responsible for the $235 million hack of cryptocurrency exchange WazirX has converted around $150 million worth of altcoins into ether (ETH), in what appears to be a move to avoid having the funds frozen or blacklisted.
According to blockchain analytics firm Spot On Chain, the mass swaps to Ether on July 18 and 19 included $90.2 million worth of Shiba Inu (SHIB), $10.2 million worth of MATIC (MATIC), and approximately $7.5 million worth of PEPE.
This transfer brings the total amount of stolen funds stored in Ether from an initial $52 million to $201 million.
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Pixelverse’s PIXFI Token Rise Nearly 50% in First Hours After Airdrop
Pixelverse, a non-fungible token and gaming platform for The Open Network (TON), launched its own token, PIXFI, on July 18th through a highly anticipated airdrop.
According to CoinMarketCap, TON’s Toncoin (TON) token rose by about 50% in the first few hours after listing, reaching a fully diluted market cap of close to $200 million before later declining.
According to Pixelverse’s X post, the PIXFI token is currently listed on several centralized exchanges, including Bybit, HTX, Gate, Bitget, and MEXC.
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Angel Drainer reportedly closed after developer was identified
Angel Drainer, a notorious cryptocurrency phishing app, has reportedly been shut down after being detected by its developers, according to a July 16 report from blockchain security firm Match Systems.
Security analysts have previously accused Angel Drainer of losing over $25 million in cryptocurrency to phishing scams.
Drainer is an app that allows phishing scammers to easily empty cryptocurrency users’ wallets by tricking them into accidentally approving tokens. In most cases, Drainer is provided to scammers in exchange for a portion of the stolen loot they have obtained.
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Scammers Return $9.3 Million Worth of Dai to Victims 10 Months After Phishing Them
Phishers stole $24 million in a phishing attack in September 2023, then suddenly returned nearly $9.3 million to their victims.
The scammer, first discovered by Scam Sniffer on July 13, used the Dai (DAI) stablecoin to return funds in two transactions last week.
According to Etherscan data, the first transfer returned $5.23 million on July 8, followed by another $4.04 million on July 13 at 12:06 PM (UTC).
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Hamster Combat Users Targeted by Phishing Attacks and Fake Airdrops
Hamster Combat players are being targeted by scammers and malicious actors looking to profit from the popularity of the tap-to-win game.
Players of Telegram-based games, one of the fastest-growing mobile games, are facing phishing attacks where scammers trick victims into performing certain actions that benefit the attackers.
The phishing attack was recently discovered by cybersecurity firm Kaspersky, according to security expert Olga Svistunova. She told Cointelegraph:
“In one scheme, scammers lure victims with phishing links that ask for their Telegram login credentials and promise to convert in-game coins into rubles.”
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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 the green.
Among the top 100, the Solana-based Mimecoin Dogwhipheart (WIF) had the biggest weekly gain at 54%, followed by Worldcoin (WLD) with over 47% gain on the weekly chart.
Investor sentiment has improved significantly as the Crypto Fear and Greed Index rose from 25 last week to indicate “greed.” Last week’s reading of 25 indicated that investors were in “extreme fear.”
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.