Binance US is reportedly reconsidering its decision to discontinue fiat on- and off-ramp services and is working on integrating new US dollar on-ramp solutions, potentially partnering with payment provider MoonPay to allow users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies in dollars.
The decentralized finance (DeFi) landscape is experiencing a significant loss of Total Value Locked (TVL) across major blockchain networks, including Ethereum, Solana, and Cardano, causing unease in the crypto market, while the Base blockchain network shows unexpected growth in TVL.
### Summary
Binance introduces Binance Pay in Brazil, facilitating the adoption of major cryptocurrencies like XRP, Shiba Inu, and Bitcoin; Ripple executives Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen provide trial availability for 2024; Shiba Inu hits a new adoption milestone with an increase in SHIB holders.
Visa and Mastercard's decision to reduce their partnerships with Binance, the largest crypto exchange, amid legal challenges is expected but unlikely to impact Binance's market share due to its global reach and liquidity.
The past week in DeFi saw the developers behind Base and Optimism protocols collaborate on a revenue and governance sharing framework, while evidence emerged regarding the $1.5 billion Multichain hack and victims search for answers, and blockchain security provider Quantstamp introduced a new DeFi tool to detect flash loan attack vulnerabilities. Additionally, Shiba Inu's Ethereum layer 2, Shibarium, is preparing for a relaunch, and the DeFi market experienced a minor dip in total value locked.
Decentralized finance (DeFi) has been heavily impacted by the crypto bear market, with the total value locked in DeFi reaching its lowest point since February 2021, as investors withdraw approximately $170 billion in deposits due to decreased yields and increased exploits. However, newer protocols like Unibot are attempting to simplify the DeFi experience and show promising signs for reigniting the DeFi space.
Shibarium, an Ethereum layer-2 network supported by Shiba Inu's SHIB tokens, aims to facilitate faster and more private off-chain transactions while leveraging the security of the Ethereum blockchain, but the recent launch of the Shibarium Bridge faced initial challenges before becoming fully functional. Nevertheless, Shibarium has ambitious goals, including catering to metaverse and gaming applications, offering cost-effective settlement options for DeFi, and showcasing the potential of the Shiba Inu project beyond its origins as a meme coin.
Hackers have targeted decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols almost 500 times since 2019, stealing a total of $6 billion, highlighting the vulnerabilities of the smart contracts that underpin DeFi platforms. The recent surge in hacks, along with declining market share and increasing interest rates, has led to the closure of several platforms and calls for regulations to prevent money laundering and enhance security measures.
The total value deposited into DeFi contracts on the Base network reaches an all-time high of $301.2 million due to liquidity mining incentives on the Aerodrome decentralized exchange, while lending protocols like Aave on the Ethereum layer-2 see scarce liquidity.
Ethereum staking services have agreed to limit all validators to 22% in order to ensure the decentralization of the Ethereum network, while DeFi hacks and exploits resulted in a loss of $16 million in August, including a nearly $900,000 exploit on Balancer protocol, and Shibarium's second launch saw over 100,000 new wallets added to the layer-2 protocol. Additionally, the USDC stablecoin is set to launch on Coinbase's layer-2 platform, and the DeFi market experienced a bearish decline in response to a delay in the approval of a Bitcoin spot ETF.
The number of wallets interacting with Shiba Inu's layer2 network, Shibarium, has surpassed 1 million, indicating potential for SHIB to evolve beyond a meme-based token. However, SHIB's price has seen a decline over the past week and month despite an impressive burn rate of tokens through Shibarium transactions.
Binance CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao predicts that decentralized finance (DeFi) has the potential to surpass centralized finance (CeFi) in the next bull run, emphasizing the positive impact of regulatory clarity and the need for broader cryptocurrency adoption worldwide.
Global securities regulators have outlined a blueprint to hold participants in decentralized finance (DeFi) accountable for their actions and protect market stability, as the sector has experienced significant shrinkage and is being used for money laundering; regulators are proposing a framework to ensure investor protection, risk management, and cross-border cooperation.
According to a Bank for International Settlements (BIS) bulletin, a centralized oracle based on trust may be the only option for DeFi, but this compromises the decentralization ethos underlying crypto DeFi.
Binance is refunding users $1 million and implementing measures to prevent future incidents after users were unable to withdraw their CYBER Earn assets due to a cross-chain bridging issue.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has issued charges and fines against three major DeFi firms in the US, signaling a potential crackdown and more stringent regulation in the decentralized finance sector.
Finoa, a Berlin-based cryptocurrency custody firm, is expanding its services to include decentralized finance (DeFi) through its custodial wallet infrastructure, offering regulated institutions access to a curated list of web3 platforms and permissioned DeFi applications.
Binance.US CEO departs and workforce is reduced as the crypto exchange faces pressure from regulatory actions, while BitMEX launches a prediction market and FTX amends its crypto asset sale proposal.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong urges the U.S. CFTC to avoid enforcement actions against decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, stating that they should be resolved in court to set a precedent.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong advocates for decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols and suggests legal action to establish a legal precedent, while MakerDAO's founder believes decentralized stablecoins could dominate the crypto market, and Polygon CEO acknowledges the success of their $1 billion investment in zero-knowledge proof rollups. Additionally, market surveillance firm Solidus Labs reveals that decentralized exchanges have become a hotspot for wash trading, and a DeFi advocacy group petitions to stop a patent troll from targeting DeFi protocols. Despite a mixed week for the top 100 DeFi tokens, the total value locked into DeFi protocols remains above $49 billion.
Decentralized finance (DeFi) projects in the US face significant regulatory risk, according to Synthetix founder Kain Warwick, who believes that US regulators are neglecting the advantages of transparent and open infrastructure in financial markets and that it will be left to the courts to resolve these issues.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's head of the Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit, David Hirsch, announced that the agency will continue to pursue crypto exchanges and DeFi projects for violating securities laws, similar to Coinbase and Binance, stating that they have several other businesses on their radar; however, the SEC's current litigation load is heavy and they are limited in their capacity to take action against all entities.
Summary: Economic activity in the DeFi sector dropped by 15.5% in August, according to an analysis by investment management fund VanEck, while blockchain capital announced two new crypto-focused funds totaling $580 million, and Balancer protocol attributed its recent exploit to a vulnerability in its DNS service provider. Additionally, Chainlink and Arbitrum have partnered for decentralized application development, and the top 100 DeFi tokens experienced a bearish week.
Cryptocurrency faces regulatory challenges that could shape its future, but despite these challenges, the industry holds promise with developments such as increased institutional adoption, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), DeFi innovation, interoperability, and expected regulatory clarity.
DeFi has become centralized, with stablecoins and real-world assets dominating the market, but crypto staking yields can bring decentralization back to the space by offering a viable alternative.
Decentralized finance (DeFi) derivatives ecosystem Avantis Labs has raised $4 million in a seed funding round led by Pantera Capital to grow its flagship product Avantis, a perpetual-trading and market-making protocol that aims to enable forex and commodities to be hedged and traded on-chain without the need for tokenization, with plans to expand its capabilities beyond perpetual trading to include options trading in the future.
The IRS's proposed rule requiring newly designated brokers to report sales and exchanges of digital assets could have catastrophic consequences, killing crypto and decentralized finance (DeFi) in the United States by creating unworkable reporting requirements and hindering innovation in the blockchain technology industry.
Stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Financial has released Perimeter Protocol, an open-source smart contract codebase that allows for the development of tokenized credit markets, enabling various credit use cases such as invoice factoring, payroll advances, instant settlement, and credit trading for institutional investors. This move comes as the tokenization of real-world assets gains momentum, with tokenized assets predicted to grow to a $5 trillion market in the next five years. Circle aims to leverage the protocol to enhance the utility of its stablecoin USDC and Euro-pegged token EURC in decentralized finance (DeFi) credit platforms.
Exploits related to oracle networks have led to nearly a billion dollars in losses over the past three years, as decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols relying on oracles are vulnerable to manipulation due to unreliable real-world data.
Decentralized finance (DeFi) has the potential to revolutionize wealth building globally, and the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) can address challenges such as liquidity, language barriers, regulatory compliance, and security to further enhance its adoption and growth.
Yield Protocol, a decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocol, has announced its decision to shut down due to a lack of business demand and global regulatory pressures, including unfavorable crypto regulations in the United States, Europe, and the United Kingdom.
