DeFi Activity Decreases While Investment Continues: Finance Redefined

Welcome to Finance Redefined, your weekly source for essential decentralized finance (DeFi) insights. This newsletter is crafted to bring you the most significant developments from the past week. In recent news, investment management fund VanEck revealed that economic activity in the DeFi sector dropped by 15.5% in August. On the other hand, Blockchain Capital announced two new crypto-focused funds amounting to $580 million.

DeFi Economic Activity Decreases in August —VanEck

The DeFi ecosystem experienced setbacks in August as on-chain economic activity declined. According to an analysis from investment manager firm VanEck, exchange volume decreased to $52.8 billion in August, which is 15.5% lower compared to July. The findings are based on VanEck’s MarketVector Decentralized Finance Leaders Index, which tracks the performance of the largest and most liquid tokens on DeFi protocols.

Blockchain Capital Closes $580 Million Funds for Crypto Gaming and DeFi Investments

Venture capital group Blockchain Capital has announced two new funds totaling $580 million, aimed at investing in infrastructure, gaming, DeFi, and consumer and social technologies. These funds will operate as Blockchain Capital’s sixth early-stage fund and its first “opportunity fund,” providing access to companies that have already secured major funding elsewhere.

Chainlink Collaborates with Ethereum’s Arbitrum for Cross-Chain DApp Development

Blockchain oracle network Chainlink has partnered with Ethereum layer-2 scaling protocol Arbitrum to facilitate cross-chain DApp development. The two protocols have announced the mainnet launch of the Chainlink Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) on Arbitrum One, granting developers access to Chainlink’s solution that leverages Arbitrum’s high-throughput, low-cost scaling.

Balancer Attributes Website Hijack to “Social Engineering Attack” on DNS Provider

The team behind Balancer, an Ethereum-based automated market maker, believes that a social engineering attack on its DNS service provider led to the compromise of its website’s front end on September 19. This attack resulted in an estimated $238,000 worth of cryptocurrency being stolen. Balancer clarified that the attack targeted EuroDNS, the domain registrar used for .fi TLDs. The Balancer decentralized autonomous organization immediately responded to the attack and is actively working to recover the Balancer UI.

Discord Crypto Trading Bot Shuts Down Following “Critical Exploit”

None Trading, a trading tool for cryptocurrencies and nonfungible tokens built on Discord, has announced its shutdown due to a “critical exploit” in its infrastructure. In addition to losing a significant amount of funding, the project also lost key team members essential for its operations. The incident has left the company in a financial and infrastructural position where it is unable to continue running effectively.

DeFi Market Overview

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView indicates that the top 100 DeFi tokens by market capitalization had a bearish week, with most tokens trading in the red on weekly charts. The total value locked into DeFi protocols reached $44 billion.

Thank you for reading our summary of this week’s impactful DeFi developments. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights, and education regarding this rapidly advancing space.

Editor Notes

In the world of decentralized finance, staying informed is key. If you want to stay updated on the latest news, trends, and insights in the crypto industry, check out Uber Crypto News. They provide comprehensive coverage for all things crypto-related, helping you make informed decisions in this dynamic and ever-evolving space.