DeFi – Decentralized Finance

Multi-billion dollar bankruptcies, fraud allegations, scandal, and plunging cryptocurrency prices in 2022 all characterized why investors came to distrust centralized exchanges. Yet, some commentators expect platforms to become ever more centralized … and regulated.

Lenders in the crypto sector are optimistic about DeFi’s recovery this year – but why is that?

CeFi and Defi are terms you’ve probably heard of before. But what exactly is CoFi, and how could it fulfil crypto’s promise of helping investors take back control of their finances?

Self-custody is cumbersome and carries risks of seed phrases getting lost, but how can we ensure if a third-party custodian can be trusted?

CeDeFi offers the benefits of CeFi and DeFi without their shortcomings, writes Alexander Tkachenko of VNX. Here’s how it works.

DeFi is still a Wild West, and many would-be users are wary of its lawlessness and anonymity. Could decentralized IDs foster greater trust and growth in the sector?

Islamic finance has seen growth in a time where most of the world’s economy has suffered losses. How could its integration into crypto help the industry?

Top blockchain and crypto news: BTC mining ETF outperforms. SBF under pressure as accusations mount. ‘China’s Instagram’ embraces NFTs.

Valkyrie’s Nasdaq-listed Bitcoin Miners exchange-traded fund (ETF), WGMI, has been the best-performing fund of 2023 so far, rising over 105% throughout January.

Laws to prevent another FTX blowup, crackdowns on crypto tax cheats, and a ruling on Ripple are likely imminent. A bull’s eye is also on DeFi, writes Gergo Varga of SEON.

Price is the wrong measure of Web3’s true value, writes Angie Lau, editor-in-chief of Forkast. To recover from Crypto Winter, we need metrics that are less prone to whims and manipulation.

DeFi Summer has cooled into Crypto Winter, but with a silver lining — investors are finally asking sensible questions like: ‘Where does the yield come from?’ writes Julian Koh of Ribbon Finance.

Immunefi founder Mitchell Amador believes the future security risks of CBDCs will highlight the benefits of DeFi.

ChainSafe’s Aidan Hyman believes that crypto’s fully decentralized application layer may finally be complete in 2023.

Dennis Jarvis of Bitcoin.com believes the incoming regulatory crackdown on CeFi may tip the scales in DeFi’s favor next year.

ICBA vice-president Brian Laverdure believes that community banks are unfazed by FTX’s collapse, but remain split on cryptocurrencies.

Ethan Buchman of Cosmos believes that 2023 may be the year of decentralized exchanges and more advanced cross-chain applications.

Centralized exchanges releasing ‘proof of reserves’ is not enough to win back users, while improving user experience will be key, writes Holger Arians of Banxa.

Hong Kong launched two exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking cryptocurrency futures on Friday, the first of their kind in Asia, the local exchange said.

Three Hong Kong-based asset management firms have applied for exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking Bitcoin and Ethereum futures for retail investors.

The push to regulate DeFi is stronger than ever, and the sector would be wise not to fight but participate in that inevitability, writes Michael Shing of XREX.

Telegram plans to build non-custodial wallets and decentralized exchanges for cryptocurrencies following the collapse of the FTX exchange says CEO Pavel Durov.

FTX’s collapse has now led to another crypto service filing for bankruptcy. Could this be the end for centralized exchanges?

Justin Sun says CeFi must adopt DeFi’s transparency to regain public trust as 1inch Network cofounder Sergej Kunz sees crypto’s struggles as an opportunity for DeFi.

Why does making the most of the crypto ecosystem remains out of reach for many?

Asset tokenization and DeFi hold tremendous potential for the finance sector, writes Han Kwee Juan of DBS Bank. Here’s how the Singaporean government is at the forefront of change.

Calls for tougher rules on cryptocurrency have been echoing ever louder through the offices of global financial regulators since the collapse of the FTX exchange. But the firm did not invent dodgy business practices, so what can regulators and the industry do?

Alexey Pertsev, a developer of the now-sanctioned crypto mixer Tornado Cash, has been ordered to stay in jail until Feb. 20 at least.

Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin has sounded a warning against the pitfalls of decentralized finance (DeFi) and self-custody, namely of bugs in smart contract code.

The tokenization of property in DeFi differs greatly from the securitization that led to the global financial crisis. In this introductory part of a special series of three articles, Forkast looks at the origins of the phenomenon, what’s new about it, and the promise it holds for investors.

Unlike the 2008 crash, the government won’t be bailing out FTX’s investors, writes Nick Saponaro of Divi Labs. Will regulators see this as a cue to crack down on exchanges?

DeFi remains unusable for all beyond a niche community, writes Dennis Jarvis of Bitcoin.com. ‘Should it stay like this, it will never attract a wide audience.’

Decentralized finance will stay niche unless the sector overcomes its myriad problems, including a lack of a credit system and regulations that inspire greater trust, writes Brian Pasfield.

What are soulbound tokens, and how can they end the ‘credit paradox’ that has been holding back the unbanked masses? Fakhul Miah of CreDA explains.

DBS, the largest bank in Southeast Asia, said it tested trading of foreign exchange and government bonds using permissioned decentralized finance (DeFi) liquidity pools on a public blockchain as part of the city-state’s Project Guardian exploration of blockchain in finance.

The bank is in the center of developments shepherded by the Monetary Authority of Singapore to explore digital financial technologies emerging around blockchain.

The city is seeking to allow digital asset-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to be publicly listed and traded in the city.

Europe’s new MiCA framework for regulating crypto shows the good that can happen when government works with and not against the industry, writes Nick Saponaro of Divi Labs.

WEMADE, a South Korean blockchain game developer, recently launched its stablecoin, WEMIX$, for growing its blockchain ecosystem, which houses NFTs and DeFi.

A Twitter user highlighted a vulnerability in BitBTC’s Optimism bridge and averted what could have been the latest in a string of bridge exploits this month.

The perpetrator of the US$9.1 million Moola Market exploit returned close to the entirety of the loot in exchange for an undisclosed ransom on Wednesday, according to the project’s social media update.   See related article: ‘Hacktober’ continues with US$1 mln taken from BitKeep token swap service Fast facts Decentralized finance (DeFi) project Moola Markets announced […]

An unidentified hacker stole over US$1 million in Binance Coin (BNB) tokens from decentralized multi-chain wallet BitKeep’s token swap service on Monday, according to a Tuesday statement by the company. See related article: Crypto hackers on track for bonanza year as theft surges, Chainalysis says Fast facts “Our development team managed to contain the emergency […]

The market may be in the doldrums, but there’s no better time to clean house and build for the future, writes Clayton Roche of UMA. Here are 5 areas of opportunity.

Centralized lenders like Celsius and Voyager have proven hugely problematic, but DeFi also has big issues. What if we pursue a hybrid approach?

As blockchains experience outages, what steps should developers take to best prevent future incidents?

Crypto asset manager Valkyrie will liquidate its Balance Sheet Opportunities exchange-traded fund (ETF) at the end of October and then delist from Nasdaq.See related article: What the Bitcoin futures ETF bonanza means for investors Fast facts See related article: Markets: Bitcoin price falls with Ether. Doge sole gainer in top 10 cryptocurrencies

Mango Markets, a decentralized platform hosted on the Solana blockchain, was exploited for over US$100 million. See related article: What is the Solana ecosystem and how is it fueling SOL’s stratospheric rise? Fast facts Mango’s token MNGO was severely impacted, dropping 42.9% in the past 24 hours to US$0.023 as of 11:15 a.m. in Hong […]

When times are tough, a DAO must trim fat and focus on providing a better product or service to its community, writes Redmption of Harvest Finance.

Beyond the bear market, Web3 technology is shining bright in gaming and music, writes Hannes Graah of Gro. Are we at a tipping point for mass adoption?

Sam Bankman-Fried‘s FTX is in talks with potential investors about a funding round that would keep the company’s valuation in line with prior financing at the start of the year, CNBC reported Wednesday.  See related article: Binance and FTX lead bidding for bankrupt Voyager Fast facts FTX Trading Ltd.’s latest funding round in January raised […]

Already a big part of global finance, interest rate swaps can be a boon for DeFi — if it can overcome these challenges, writes Simon Jones of Voltz Labs.

Maja Vujinovic, founder and CEO of OGroup, a financial services company with a focus on artificial intelligence and blockchain, spoke to Forkast about the future of digital assets at StartmeupHK Festival 2022.

Ethereum post-Merge will be much more attractive to institutional investors keen on ESG and earning stable yields, writes Wei Zhou of Coins.ph. Here’s why.

Cryptocurrency-related insurance is a vast untapped market, with less than 1% of crypto investments covered amid hacks and losses in the industry running into the billions of dollars, Cointelegraph reported, citing an executive from decentralized insurance protocol InsurAce. See related article: DeFi insurance: Why buy coverage for your digital assets? Fast facts Dan Thomson, the […]

The collapse of Celsius and Anchor wasn’t a failure of DeFi, writes Kaaran Kalantari of WingRiders. They failed to assess risk, and crypto Darwinism took shape.

BABL, the native cryptocurrency of Babylon Finance, has lost 92% of its value after the decentralized finance (DeFi) asset management protocol’s founder Ramon Recuero on Wednesday announced plans to shut down its services. See related article: Chainalysis says $2 bln stolen in cross-chain bridge hacks this year, more expected Fast facts The token was trading […]

We take a look at how the Ethereum PoW fork has gained crypto exchange backings in this episode of The Daily Forkast.

Despite the Indian government’s hostility towards cryptocurrencies, the CoinDCX exchange says more traditional financial products will shift to DeFi platforms.

Non-fungible token (NFT) platform SudoRare has allegedly run off with US$815,000 in user funds and deleted its social media accounts, raising alarms over investor protection.  See related article: Klaytn chief says reducing ‘human elements’ can prevent hacks Fast facts According to PeckShield Inc., a blockchain security and data analytics company, SudoRare took off with 519 […]

Real estate as an investment is not very liquid, composable or accessible, writes Joel Lin of CitaDAO. Can tokenization and DeFi transform this market?

The decentralized finance sector is now a fraction of its former self. What will help companies survive this bear market and emerge stronger?

Pantera Capital-backed Injective Labs has raised US$40 million to be used to create blockchain optimized for financial applications, it said in a statement.  See related article: Singapore DeFi derivatives exchange SynFutures closes US$14M fund raise Fast facts The funding round was led by Jump Crypto and BH Digital, the crypto arm of hedge fund manager […]

After high-profile cyberattacks on decentralized apps, the blockchain industry is in a hurry to ramp up security. Sam Sangmin Seo, head of Klaytn, tells Forkast that minimizing human error may be the key.

As wages stagnate and prices spiral, crypto offers investment and growth opportunities unmatched by the traditional financial system, writes Tarik Moon, CEO of Alpine.

Layer 1 blockchain Waves, which has been mired in a liquidity crisis, will go ahead with a revival plan recently approved by the community behind its decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocol Vires.Finance, to allow certain account holders to withdraw funds or keep their positions for later repayment. See related article: Waves’ Neutrino USD loses peg […]

The new product will help over 20 million KuCoin users to access blue chip non-fungible tokens (NFTs) through direct purchases with USDT, instead of ETH, the cryptocurrency exchange said.  See related article: KuCoin dismisses rumors, eyes India for growth: report Fast facts KuCoin is partnering with Fracton Protocol and will initially list five NFT exchange-traded […]

Despite the bleak macro outlook, more institutions are looking to gain exposure to the DeFi sector, writes Robert Alcorn of Clearpool. Here’s why.

The crypto world is consumed by a spiritual battle between its believers and haters, and it is in need of a rebirth and new identity, writes Prof. Yanto Chandra of Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Silvergate issues warnings about the crypto winter. Meanwhile, Zipmex considers a buyout by FTX and Alameda Research.

The total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (DeFi) plunged 66.9% in the second quarter of this year amid market turmoil, according to data from DefiLlama. See related article: Sinking TRON takes DeFi TVL to US$63B, lowest since April 2021 Fast facts The DeFi space recorded US$220 billion in TVL at the beginning of the […]

Top blockchain and crypto news: Celsius plunges into Chapter 11. Otherside’s promised land. Mixed picture for Chinese NFTs.

The decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocol will use Pocket’s distributed network to increase access for decentralized app (dApp) developers across 50 blockchain networks.  See related article: DeFi lending platform Aave to ‘build Twitter on Ethereum’ Fast facts Pocket, which on Tuesday tweeted a Cointelegraph report on the partnership, offers Aave a distributed network of over […]