Losses due to crypto hacks fall 67%, Bitcoin DeFi interest rises: 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.

While the DeFi sector is often associated with hacks and exploits, losses from hacks have declined by 67% in April to $60 million compared to March, which saw $187 million in funds stolen. Hundred Finance hackers moved stolen funds for the first time nearly a year after an exploit.

In other news, the Bitcoin layer-2 platform Stacks recorded its highest number of active users as interest in Bitcoin DeFi, or BTCFi, surged.

The top 100 DeFi tokens had another bearish week, followed by a burst of bullish momentum toward the end of the week. Still, the total value locked in DeFi protocols remained below $90 billion.

Losses from crypto hacks plunge 67% in April to $60 million

The collective value of cryptocurrency compromised by hacking plummeted 67% in April to $60.2 million, marking a notable reduction in crypto attacks, representing the first significant decline in 2024.

The 67% is a sharp decline from the $187.6 million hacked in March, which pales compared to the $360.8 million worth of digital assets hacked in February, according to a May 1 X post by on-chain security firm PeckShield.

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Stacks active accounts reach record high amid growing interest in Bitcoin DeFi

Leading Bitcoin layer-2 network Stacks has reached an all-time high in active users, driven by a growing interest in Bitcoin-native DeFi.

Stacks reached a new all-time high of 122,497 active accounts during April. Active accounts are addresses that performed at least one transaction, according to a May 2 X post by Bitcoin ( BTC ) data provider Signal 21.

The record account count suggests a growing interest in BTCFi and comes over a week after the 2024 Bitcoin halving and the launch of Runes, a new protocol for issuing fungible tokens on the Bitcoin network.

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Hundred Finance hacker moves stolen assets a year after $7 million exploit

The hacker who stole $7.4 million from the DeFi protocol Hundred Finance has started moving the crypto assets after a year of inactivity.

On May 1, the hacker moved Ether ( ETH ) and Tether ( USDT) worth about $800,000 from Curve’s decentralized exchange after providing liquidity on the platform more than one year ago.

After withdrawing the funds, the hacker converted USDT and other cryptocurrencies into ETH, increasing the exploiter’s ETH by more than $1 million.

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Curve Finance awards dev $250,000 for finding reentrancy vulnerability

A security researcher was rewarded $250,000 for discovering a vulnerability that has historically allowed hackers to pull out millions of dollars from cryptocurrency protocols.

Pseudonymous cybersecurity researcher Marco Croc from Kupia Security identified a reentrancy vulnerability in the DeFi protocol Curve Finance. In an X thread, he explained how the bug could be exploited to manipulate balances and withdraw funds from liquidity pools.

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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 fell below $90 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.