The decentralized finance (DeFi) sector continues to attract heightened attention from cryptocurrency investors. ForkLog has compiled the most important events and news from recent weeks in this digest.
Key metrics of the DeFi segment
Total value locked (TVL) in DeFi protocols barely moved, at $47.42 billion. Lido leads with $13.61 billion, followed by MakerDAO at $6.36 billion and AAVE at $5.47 billion.
TVL in Ethereum applications fell to $27.36 billion. Trading volume on decentralized exchanges (DEX) over the last 30 days stood at $68.6 billion.
Uniswap continues to dominate the non-custodial exchange market — accounting for 61.9% of total trading volume. The second DEX by volume is PancakeSwap (17.9%), and the third is DODO (5.6%).
TON establishes a $250 million investment fund for DeFi projects
The TON team has created a $250 million venture fund to finance new projects focused on DeFi. The initiative has been named TON Accelerator.
In 2023, under the program, $25 million will be allocated to startups that “could have a significant impact on the developing ecosystem” of the network. According to the statement, each project will receive funding from $50,000 to $250,000.
Investments will be accompanied by partnerships and mentorship from other TON Accelerator-affiliated companies, including:
- hedge fund and market maker Gotbit;
- Web3Port, a developer of Web3Port tools;
- TonStarter, a fundraising platform;
- BoomLabs, a South Korean hub;
- Cypher Capital, a venture fund.
In the first round, priority will be given to teams that participated in hackathons hosted by TON and its partners.
DeFi project Fintoch suspected of $31.6 million fraud
The Fintoch team allegedly carried out an exit scam, siphoning off clients’ digital assets worth $31.6 million, according to on-chain researcher ZachXBT.
The funds, in USDT, were moved from BNB Chain to several addresses on Tron and Ethereum blockchains. Some users told the expert they could not retrieve their funds from Fintoch.
The US-based company claimed to belong to Morgan Stanley and promised daily returns of 1% on investments.
In recent months, Fintoch has held promotional events in Malaysia, South Korea and Dubai.
ZachXBT believes the project was a Ponzi scheme. The site lists Bob Lambert as co-founder and CEO, but he does not exist in reality; his role was played by a hired actor.
The researcher noted that Singapore authorities and Morgan Stanley had previously issued warnings about the investment scheme.
Hackers drain over $7.5 million from DeFi project Jimbos Protocol
The Arbitrum-based project Jimbos Protocol came under attack, resulting in unknown actors draining 4,090 ETH (over $7.5 million) from its smart contracts.
The project team confirmed the exploit, saying they are ‘actively engaging’ with law enforcement and security specialists.
They also posted on the Ethereum blockchain a message offering the hackers a 10% bounty and immunity from prosecution.
PeckShield noted that the exploit related to a ‘slippage-control flaw’ in tokens managed by the protocol. The analysts said the stolen funds were moved through the Stargate and Celer Network infrastructure.
Numen Cyber said that for the attack the attackers initiated an instantaneous loan of 10,000 ETH. These assets were used to manipulate the JIMBO token’s price, followed by draining liquidity pools.
Jimbos Protocol was initially launched on May 16. Soon after launch, the team abandoned the first version of the protocol due to a critical bug in the smart contracts and unveiled a second iteration of the app.
Also on ForkLog:
- The Synthetix token rose in response to founder’s initiatives.
- Kyber Network will relaunch farming in Elastic pools.
- DEX Minswap trading volume hit a new high amid meme-token popularity.