Crypto and DeFi Hacks in July Cost Users $303 Million

Crypto hacks in July cost users $303 million

According to a tweet by security audit firm CertiK, crypto traders have experienced losses of $303 million in cryptocurrency exploits and hacker attacks this month. This makes July the worst month so far this year in terms of stolen value. 

These incidents have had a significant impact on decentralized finance (DeFi) investors, particularly following the recent exploit of decentralized exchange Curve Finance. As an integral part of the DeFi ecosystem, this breach has caused considerable turmoil among investors. Certik has confirmed that since Sunday, approximately $52 million worth of digital assets were siphoned from the protocol using a vulnerability found in certain versions of Vyper, a popular smart contract coding language.

Another incident earlier this month involved the draining of around $125 million from blockchain bridging protocol Multichain. Following this event, Multichain ceased operations and disclosed that their CEO Zhaojun had been detained by Chinese authorities back in May.

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Binance close to full approval in Dubai

On Monday, Binance announced that it has successfully secured a significant license from the Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) of Dubai. This license grants Binance the authorization to offer approved services in Dubai under the supervision of VARA. These services include exchange and broker-dealer facilities, initially catering to institutional and qualified retail investors. 

Following full approval, there is potential to extend these services to encompass other retail investors as well. With this operational minimum viable product (MVP) license in hand, Binance has solidified its presence in Dubai's crypto market and positioned itself as a trusted platform for digital asset transactions within the region.

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PancakeSwap to share trading-fee with CAKE holders

In an effort to enhance rewards for its users, PancakeSwap, the decentralized exchange platform, has announced its plan to distribute a portion of its trading-fee revenue among those who stake their CAKE tokens. 

Starting from August 9th, individuals who hold fixed-term CAKE stakes will receive 5% of the trading-fee revenue generated through PancakeSwap v3 pairs with fee tiers of 0.01% and 0.05%. This distribution will occur on a recurring and weekly basis. By implementing this initiative, PancakeSwap aims to provide additional incentives for token holders while promoting active participation in the platform's ecosystem.

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BALD token holders rugged 

Following its peak on Monday, the newly introduced BALD tokens on the Base blockchain experienced a significant decline of up to 90%. This drop occurred as the individual responsible for deploying the tokens withdrew a substantial amount of liquidity valued in millions of dollars.

According to available data, during the morning hours in Europe, BALD held an impressive $32 million worth of Ethereum (ETH). However, after the developer's actions, prices plummeted from 9 cents to merely 1 cent. At present, there seems to be a slight recovery with prices stabilizing at around 4 cents as some traders took advantage of this downward trend and made purchases during this dip.

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South Korea to pilot CBDCs in three cities 

As per a report from a South Korean media outlet, the Bank of Korea has selected three locations, excluding Seoul, for conducting trials of its central bank digital currency (CBDC). Jeju, Busan, and Incheon have been identified as potential sites for the "private target CBDC test bed." This decision was confirmed on July 31.

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Other breaking news

• $160 million in alleged Terra wallets unearthed 
• Celo to move to Ethereum layer 2
• Curve Finance suffers $70 million exploit
• Amid the Curve exploit the 'c0ffeebabe.eth' bot returns $5.4 million
• Nigeria issues a second warning to Binance

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Wrapping up

That’s all for today’s edition, folks. Today’s drop covered South Korea aiming to pilot CBDCs in three cities, but not in Seoul. Despite various issues Binance is facing, its licence in Dubai looks like a sure thing; meanwhile, a DeFi project PancakeSwap, is set to share trading fees with CAKE holders. Finally, hacks and exploits mark the day with Curve Finance hacked and BALD token holders being rugged. Stay tuned for more updates in our rapidly evolving space.