DeFi
Sergey Kondratenko: DeFi Development Amid Increased Sanctions Risks
Fintech expert Sergey Kondratenko points out that DeFi faces unique regulatory challenges, especially in light of the increasing focus on global economic sanctions and anti-money laundering (AML) regulations. Integrating AML methods and complying with sanctions policies remain crucial issues for DeFi platforms as they strive to legitimize their operations and expand their user base.
The original philosophy of anonymity in DeFi is now being challenged. Such an approach to anonymity may need to be reconsidered if faced with a difficult choice: “one or the other.” On one side, there is the desire to maintain privacy. On the other, there is the risk of DeFi being abused to circumvent sanctions and engage in illegal financial operations, fraud, money laundering, and terrorist financing.
“Blockchain can technically guarantee a higher level of transparency than the traditional banking system. It is impossible to falsify or retrospectively change a blockchain transaction,” comments Sergey Kondratenko.
If the issue of integration into the global financial system is raised, then in the context of the universal global fight against money laundering and financial crimes, DeFi can provide much more transparency with proper adaptation.
Growing Interest in DeFi Amid Sanctions and Regulatory Restrictions
The anonymous nature of DeFi makes it attractive for money laundering, illegal financial operations, and sanctions evasion, among other things.
“Cryptocurrencies allow for easy and fast transfer of large sums of money, which can be accessed anywhere in the world,” recalls Sergey Kondratenko.
At the same time, decentralized finance tools are often used to circumvent sanctions because of their ability to provide financial services without centralized control. This allows users to make transactions anonymously, making it harder for regulators to track and block funds.
The use of DeFi for such purposes undermines the effectiveness of international economic sanctions designed to prevent unwanted political and economic actions. In response, international organizations like the FATF Authorities are currently developing guidelines and measures to regulate the DeFi sector to prevent its use to circumvent sanctions. In 2019, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) expanded its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing measures, including to the virtual asset sector and virtual asset service providers (VASPs).
Sergey Kondratenko: Challenges and Opportunities for DeFi in the Context of Global Economic Sanctions
To reduce systemic risks to the global financial system, it is necessary to address the problem of DeFi abuse to circumvent restrictions and financial crimes, track transactions, and verify financial activity.
Adopted by the European Union in July 2018, the Fifth European Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD5) extends transparency requirements and anti-financial crime measures to virtual assets and their intermediaries, including DeFi platforms.
According to the directive, virtual currency operators must implement strict KYC and AML procedures, conduct thorough customer checks, keep records of financial transactions and report suspicious activities to relevant authorities.
Sergey Kondratenko notes that in order to comply with the requirements of the directive, DeFi platforms will have to find innovative solutions in the field of regulatory compliance that simultaneously ensure transparency and respect for user privacy.
In July 2023, the US Senate also approved amendments to the NDAA aimed at tightening control over cryptocurrency mixers, anonymous coins, and organizations working in the digital asset sector. In addition, US authorities proposed a bill requiring DeFi protocols to implement fight against money laundering (AML). In Europe, the European Parliament’s Economic and Home Affairs Committees have also backed a bill that extends AML requirements to DAOs and other Web3 platforms. Under the bill, all transactions over €1,000 must be subject to mandatory monitoring.
Considering all this, despite the philosophy of anonymity, DeFi platforms are exploring ways to integrate anti-money laundering principles into their operations.
Blockchain’s technological transparency can be used to develop more reliable anti-money laundering tools and compliance requirements that track and analyze transactions more efficiently than traditional systems.
Sergey Kondratenko notes that DeFi can play a key role in combating money laundering and preventing illegal financial transactions on a global scale.
With blockchain transparency, DeFi platforms can offer new ways to monitor and protect financial transactions. Smart contracts, for example, can be programmed to reject transactions that don’t meet specific legal criteria, effectively automating compliance and reducing human error.
Prospects for integrating DeFi into traditional financial infrastructure under sanctions – Sergey Kondratenko
The integration of DeFi into the traditional financial system opens up significant opportunities and serious challenges. For DeFi to be fully compliant with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing requirements, it must overcome several obstacles:
Strengthened KYC measures. DeFi platforms must develop mechanisms that ensure proper verification of all users while adhering to the principles of decentralization.
Interaction with regulatory authorities. Continued dialogue with regulators will be crucial to align DeFi developments with the existing legal basis and potentially influence the creation of new rules that recognize the unique aspects of decentralized systems.
Standardization of protocols. Establishing standard protocols across different platforms can help ensure consistent application of compliance measures, simplifying integration with traditional financial systems.
As DeFi continues to grow, these efforts will be critical to defining its place in the broader financial landscape, particularly in regions that are heavily regulated and monitored for sanctions compliance.
Sergey Kondratenko added that amid tightening global sanctions and regulatory frameworks, a technology-driven approach to DeFi could be more effective since more traditional financial systems often face bureaucratic sluggishness, making them less adaptable to rapidly changing international rules.
DeFi
Cryptocurrency and defi firms lost $266 million to hackers in July
In July 2024, the cryptocurrency industry suffered a series of devastating attacks, resulting in losses amounting to approximately $266 million.
Blockchain Research Firm Peck Shield revealed in an X post On August 1, attacks on decentralized protocols in July reached $266 million, a 51% increase from $176 million reported in June.
The most significant breach last month involved WazirX, one of India’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, which lost $230 million in what appears to be a highly sophisticated attack by North Korean hackers. The attack was a major blow to the stock market, leading to a break in withdrawals. Subsequently, WazirX launched a program in order to recover the funds.
Another notable incident involved Compound Finance, a decentralized lending protocol, which suffered a governance attack by a group known as the “Golden Boys,” who passed a proposal who allocated 499,000 COMP tokens – valued at $24 million – to a vault under their control.
The cross-chain liquidity aggregation protocol LI.FI also fell victim On July 16, a hack resulted in losses of $9.73 million. Additionally, Bittensor, a decentralized machine learning network, was one of the first protocols to suffer an exploit last month, loming $8 million on July 3 due to an attack targeting its staking mechanism.
Meanwhile, Rho Markets, a lending protocol, suffered a $7.6 million breach. However, in an interesting twist, the exploiters research to return the stolen funds, claiming the incident was not a hack.
July 31, reports The Terra blockchain protocol was also hacked, resulting in a loss of $6.8 million across multiple cryptocurrencies. As crypto.news reported, the attack exploited a reentrancy vulnerability that had been identified a few months ago.
Dough Finance, a liquidity protocol, lost $1.8 million in Ethereum (ETH) and USD Coin (USDC) to a flash loan attack on July 12. Similarly, Minterest, a lending and borrowing protocol, saw a loss of $1.4 million due to exchange rate manipulation in one of its markets.
Decentralized staking platform MonoSwap also reported a loss of $1.3 million following an attack that allowed the perpetrators to withdraw the liquidity staked on the protocol. Finally, Delta Prime, another decentralized finance platform, suffered a $1 million breach, although $900,000 of the stolen funds was later recovered.
DeFi
Centralized crypto exchanges are slowly losing ground to their DeFi counterparts
Centralized crypto exchanges are slowly losing ground to their DeFi counterparts, according to an in-depth data analysis conducted by Decrypt.
DeFiLlama’s decentralized exchange (DEX) volume data and CoinGecko’s total cryptocurrency trading volume data show that the percentage of cryptocurrency trading volume occurring on DEXs relative to total trading volume has increased from 4.6% in February to over 7% this month. This is an increase in the share of trading volume driven by DEXs of over 52%.
Source: Adrian Zmudzinski
Kunal Goel, a senior research analyst at Messari, told Decrypt that several factors are fueling the growth in DEX market share. He cited “the growth of meme coins and long-tail assets” as one of the reasons, explaining that they tend to list first on DEXs and only appear on centralized exchanges much later.if they last that long.
“The onchain user experience has improved with low fees and high throughput on Solana and Ethereum L2,” he added, highlighting advancements making decentralized finance (DeFi) solutions increasingly easier to use.
DeFiLlama data further shows that over the past 24 hours, DEX volume accounted for 22% of total trading volume. The crypto price aggregator notes that this percentage is meant to represent the dominance of decentralized exchanges over aggregated decentralized exchanges and centralized exchanges.
So far in 2024, DEX volume has seen a slow and steady increase.
CEX and DEX trading volume increased from $133.5 billion in January to $179.5 billion this month, an increase of about 34%. The year-to-date high was recorded in March, when CEX and DEX volumes saw a sharp increase, reaching $4.8 trillion and $266.89 billion, respectively.
Goel noted that at the time, “Bitcoin hit new all-time highs in March and trading activity is generally positively correlated with price and sentiment.” Looking ahead, he expects centralized exchanges to move on-chain and disrupt their own business models before others can. He added that “Base and BNB Chain are the most prominent examples of this.”
TradingView also shows a DeFi market cap dominance chart, in percentage terms. Currently at 3.86%, it fell from 4.47% on January 1 and hit a 2024 high of 4.81% on February 25. Goel noted that this was unexpected since “DEX volumes are a key driver of DEX value, so it’s a bit contradictory.”
Challenge is an umbrella term for a group of financial tools built on a blockchain, including DEXs, exchanges that operate primarily on-chain. The primary goal of DeFi is to allow anyone with internet access to lend, borrow, and bank without relying on intermediaries.
Similarly, the main goal of DEXs is to allow anyone with internet access to trade or even provide liquidity in exchange for a stake. DeFi and DEXs are one of the main areas of focus in decentralized application (dapp) development, which have seen considerable adoption this year.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.
DeFi
Pump.Fun Overtakes Ethereum in Daily Revenue: A New Leader in DeFi
In a remarkable turn of events, Pump.Fun, a memecoin launchpad, has surpassed all other platforms in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector, achieving the highest gross revenue in the last 24 hours. According to data from DeFiLlama, Pump.Fun amassed $867,429 during this period, surpassing Ethereum’s $844,276. This achievement underscores the growing influence of memecoin infrastructure within DeFi.
Pump.Fun Revenue Milestones
The impressive revenue numbers go beyond daily performance. Pump.Fun is generating $315 million in annualized revenue, averaging $906,160 per day over the past week. This revenue surge is largely due to the recent memecoin frenzy, with Solana-based memecoins being particularly popular among on-chain enthusiasts. The platform’s user-friendly interface allows non-technical users to quickly launch their own tokens, spending as little as $2 without needing to provide any initial liquidity.
How Pump.Fun works
Pump.Fun’s operating model is designed to facilitate the use and rapid launch of tokens. Users can create new tokens in minutes, which are then allowed to trade along a bonding curve until they reach a market cap of approximately $75,000. At this point, the bonding curve is burned on Raydium, establishing a secure liquidity pool. The platform generates revenue through a 1% fee on transactions made on the platform. However, once a token is bonded and burned on Raydium, Pump.Fun stops charging this fee.
Ethereum: Traditional Power
Despite its daily revenues, Ethereum remains a cornerstone of the DeFi ecosystem. It is the blockchain of Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency with a market cap of $395 billion. Ethereum powers many applications and digital assets, backing over $60 billion worth of smart contracts. Revenue generation on Ethereum is done through transaction fees, called gas, which are paid in ETH for executing transactions and smart contracts.
Comparative analysis of revenue models
While Ethereum’s revenue model relies on gas fees for transactions and smart contract executions, Pump.Fun takes a different approach. By enabling easy and low-cost token launches, Pump.Fun caters to a broad audience, including non-technical users. This inclusiveness, combined with the excitement surrounding memecoins, has led to rapid revenue growth. The 1% transaction fee ensures continued revenue generation until the token transitions to Raydium, creating a sustainable business model.
Memecoin frenzy
The recent rise in popularity of memecoins has been a major contributor to Pump.Fun’s success. Memecoins, particularly those based on Solana, have captivated the DeFi community, generating substantial activity on platforms like Pump.Fun. This trend highlights a shift in DeFi dynamics, where niche platforms catering to specific interests can achieve significant revenue milestones.
Future prospects
Pump.Fun’s recent successes suggest a potential shift in the DeFi landscape. As the platform continues to attract users with its simple token launch process and low-cost entry point, it could solidify its position as a leader in the DeFi space. The memecoin phenomenon shows no signs of slowing down, indicating that platforms like Pump.Fun could continue to see robust growth.
In conclusion, Pump.Fun’s ability to surpass Ethereum in terms of daily revenue underscores the evolving nature of the DeFi space. By providing a user-friendly platform for launching memecoins, Pump.Fun has tapped into a lucrative niche, demonstrating the potential for niche platforms to thrive alongside traditional blockchain giants like Ethereum. This development signals a broader trend toward diversification and innovation within the DeFi ecosystem, with new entrants challenging established players through unique value propositions and targeted services.
DeFi
$10 Billion Venture Firm May Target 10x Opportunities in Ripple (XRP) and This DeFi Token
According to recent reports, one of the largest venture capital firms is looking for new opportunities in the cryptocurrency space as Bitcoin (BTC) attempts to break its all-time high and start a new bull run in the cryptocurrency market. They are balancing risk with low-risk, low-reward and high-risk, high-reward opportunities.
The first investment candidate is a top cryptocurrency, Ripple (XRP); it doesn’t have much growth potential because it’s already a large cap. Another scenario the firm is targeting is DTX ExchangeThe new hybrid exchange is expected to revolutionize the foreign exchange industry. According to analysts, its growth potential is immense and the risk is also very limited due to its low price.
Market is bullish as Trump wants to make US a Bitcoin (BTC) superpower
Over the past 30 days, Bitcoin (BTC) has increased by about 10%, and one of the catalysts for this price increase has been Donald Trump recently speaking out as a crypto pro. Presidential candidate Donald Trump has promised to make the United States the world leader in cryptocurrencies if elected in November. Speaking at the Bitcoin2024 conference in Nashville, Trump compared Bitcoin (BTC) to the steel industry of 100 years ago, highlighting its potential.
Trump’s plans include firing SEC Chairman Gary Gensler and immediately creating a “Presidential Advisory Council on Bitcoin (BTC) and Cryptocurrencies.” He stressed the importance of American leadership in the cryptocurrency space, saying, “I am laying out my plan to ensure that the United States is the cryptocurrency capital of the planet and the Bitcoin (BTC) superpower of the world.”
$600 Million Worth of Ripple (XRP) to Be Released in August
Ripple (XRP), the company behind the XRP Ledger blockchain and its native token Ripple (XRP), unlocks up to 1 billion tokens on the first day of every month. Since 2017, they have used several major escrow wallets, including Ripple (XRP) (24) and Ripple (XRP) (25), to evenly distribute these monthly unlocks.
However, Ripple (XRP) often relocks a large portion of newly issued XRP. For example, on June 1, Ripple (XRP) relocked 800 million XRP but still sold about 300 million XRP, worth $182 million at the time.
While Ripple (XRP) releases up to 1 billion XRP tokens each month, the actual amount released into circulation is typically much lower due to this re-escrow process, as noted in a 2017 XRP Ledger blog post.
DTX Exchange Follows Bitcoin (BTC) Path
The main target of large private equity firms is the DTX exchange (DTX), the reason being a clearly high utility like Bitcoin (BTC). This project has attracted global attention thanks to its exceptional pre-sale performance, offering early buyers a 100% return on investment and raising over $1 million. Projections suggest that this figure will reach $2 million by the end of August 2024.
DTX Exchange offers a revolutionary hybrid trading platform, combining the best features of centralized (CEX) and decentralized (DEX) exchanges. Traders can enjoy a seamless experience with access to over 120,000 asset classes, no KYC verification upon registration and ultra-fast transaction speeds of 0.04 seconds.
These benefits have attracted traders to this new cryptocurrency exchange. Currently, in Phase 2 of its pre-sale, DTX Exchange is listed at $0.04, which is double its starting price of $0.02. Market analysts predict that the upcoming listing of DTX Exchange on the Level 1 CEX in late 2024 could trigger a 100x bullish rally, making DTX Exchange the top cryptocurrency exchange to watch.
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