Crypto protocols recover $674M, Jupiter DEX memecoin frenzy: 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.

The past week in crypto saw Solana decentralized exchange (DEX) Jupiter flip the leading DEX platform Uniswap with $480 million in daily trading volume amid a new memecoin airdrop frenzy.

According to a new report, out of $2.61 billion stolen from the crypto market in 2023, $674 million was recovered from 600 large-scale hacks. Meanwhile, Polygon Labs proposes a framework to classify DeFi as “critical infrastructure.”

The top 100 DeFi tokens had a bullish week, with a mid-week market surge, and the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi protocols surged above $60 billion.

Stolen crypto worth $674 million successfully recovered in 2023

Blockchain security firm PeckShield has published data summarizing the losses to hacks and scams in 2023. According to the company, $2.61 billion was lost in the year, excluding multichain losses.

PeckShield noted in its report on Jan. 29 that the amount shows a 27.78% decrease compared with 2022 when total global cyber thefts totaled around $3.6 billion. The security firm also highlighted that over $674 million was recovered from the more than 600 large-scale hacks they tracked, equating to 25% of the crypto stolen.

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Solana DEX Jupiter flips Uniswap amid stablecoin, Wen airdrop frenzy

Trading volumes on the Solana-based DEX Jupiter topped the charts at $480 million in a 24-hour period amid a frenzy for a new memecoin airdrop and heightened stablecoin swaps.

The trading activity has even seen Jupiter beat out the Ethereum-based volumes on Uniswap from both v2 and v3 protocols by $10 million, with the combined trading volume of those protocols only amounting to $470 million in the last 24 hours, per CoinGecko data.

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Polygon Labs proposes a framework to classify DeFi as “critical infrastructure”

Neutral, DeFi protocols should be designated as “critical infrastructure” and overseen by federal cybersecurity agencies in the United States, according to a newly proposed regulatory framework from the legal team behind Polygon Labs.

On Jan. 29, Rebecca Rettig and Katja Gilman from Polygon Labs and Michael Mosier, co-founder of emergent technology law firm Arktouros, published “A Conceptual Framework for Combating Illicit Finance Activity in Decentralized Finance.”

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SFC flags Floki staking programs as unauthorized

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has cautioned the public about potentially risky investment products called “Floki Staking Program” and “TokenFi Staking Program.” Both products are affiliated with the Floki ecosystem.

According to the SFC, these products offer staking services and claim to deliver annualized returns ranging from 30% to over 100%. However, the watchdog emphasized that neither of the products has received authorization for public sale in Hong Kong.

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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 bullish week, with most trading in the green on the weekly charts.

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.