Crypto hack losses hit $19B, Terraform Labs shuts down: Finance Redefined
Welcome to Finance Redefined, your weekly dose of essential decentralized finance (DeFi) insights — a newsletter crafted to bring you the most significant developments from the past week.
In this week’s newsletter, the total losses from crypto hacks and exploits has hit $19 billion over the past 13 years, with 785 reported incidents, and the Solana Foundation has cracked down on validators involved in sandwich attacks on traders.
And, in other major news, Terraform Labs shut down operations entirely and handed over control to the Terra community after its $4.47 billion settlement with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Crypto hacks soar to $19 billion in 13 years: Crystal Intelligence
The cryptocurrency industry suffered 785 reported hacks and exploits in the past 13 years.
According to a Crystal Intelligence report shared with Cointelegraph, nearly $19 billion worth of digital assets were stolen in the 13 years since June 19, 2011, when the first known crypto hack was reported.
The largest single crypto theft case remains the 2019 Plus Token fraud when attackers netted $2.9 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). In February 2024, the $290 million security breach on PlayDapp represented the largest single crypto heist in the past two years.
Curve founder repays 93% of $10 million bad debt stemming from liquidation
Michael Egorov, founder of DeFi protocol Curve Finance, claims to have repaid 93% of $10 million in bad debt from the protocol’s soft liquidation triggered earlier in the day.
On June 13, Curve Finance’s soft liquidation mechanism successfully managed a real-world test during a recent hacking attempt, but its native CRV token price plunged by over 28% amid the chaos. According to blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence, Egorov himself faced $140 million in liquidations due to “borrowing $95.7M in stablecoins (mostly crvUSD) against $141M in CRV across five accounts on five protocols.”
Terraform Labs to end operations, Terra community will take over
Chris Amani, CEO of Terraform Labs, has announced that the firm will cease operations following a $4.47 billion settlement with the U.S. SEC.
The company plans to sell key projects within the Terra ecosystem and give the community control of the Terra blockchain. Terraform Lab’s decision to dissolve follows its $4.47 billion settlement with the SEC regarding the historic collapse of the algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) in 2022. The settlement includes a substantial $3.58 billion disgorgement — giving up profits obtained illegally or unethically — and a civil penalty of $420 million.
Solana cracks down on validator sandwich attacks
The Solana Foundation has removed a group of validator operators from its delegation program due to their involvement in sandwich attacks on traders.
In a sandwich attack, a malicious trader searches the network of their choice, such as Ethereum, for a pending transaction. Sandwiching occurs by placing one order before the transaction and another immediately after. The attacker will position the first pending transaction between a front-run and a back-run, both occurring simultaneously, to manipulate the asset’s price and profit from the difference.
DeFi market overview
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that DeFi’s top 100 tokens by market capitalization had a bearish week, with most trading in the red on the weekly charts. The total value locked in DeFi protocols reached $101 billion.
Thanks for reading our summary of this week’s most impactful DeFi developments. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights and education regarding this dynamically advancing space.
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