Meanwhile, another decentralized finance protocol has been exploited — this time, on Solana.
This week, the cryptocurrency industry saw millions of dollars lost through DeFi hacks, Thailand announce regulatory clampdowns against cryptocurrencies, billions of dollars raised by a venture firm to help drive the Web3 industry forward, and early success for a hyped new protocol, Stargate.
Here’s the breakdown of the blockchain industry’s biggest stories.
Cashio App exploited for $50 million
Cashio, the Solana-native stablecoin protocol for users to deposit approved collateral and mint the CASH stablecoin, fell victim to an exploit — costing it $50 million.
The hacker essentially exploited a function in the code that allowed them to forge a long chain of multiple fake accounts.
Key takeaways
- This is not the first time a decentralized finance protocol on Solana has fallen victim to a fake-account exploit.
- Despite exploits being relatively common in the DeFi space, $50 million is a not-insignificant sum of money for a young project. Cashio currently has approximately $600,000 remaining in its treasury.
Thailand bans cryptocurrency payments
The Thailand Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it will be enforcing a ban on the use of cryptocurrencies as a form of payment effective from April 1.
The main concern of Thailand’s SEC is the ease of money laundering that crypto payments enable, as well as the inability of the country’s central bank to step in and stop the activity.
The enforcement is part of a larger plan that the Thai government has been working on since January in an attempt to regulate the general use of digital assets within its borders.
Key takeaway:
- The ban is strictly on the use of cryptocurrency as payment. The ban is not on the trading of cryptocurrencies, which has become a popular activity in Thailand over recent years.
Haun Ventures raises $1.5 billion
Katie Haun, a former partner at the venture fund Andreessen Horowitz, recently announced that she is leaving a16z to start her own firm, named Haun Ventures, after raising $1.5 billion.
The raise will be split across two funds within the firm. $500 million will be allocated to the early-stage fund and $1 billion will be allocated to an acceleration fund.
The ultimate goal of the venture firm is to be invested in every layer of the Web3 stack.
Key takeaways
- Much like a16z and Sequoia Capital, Haun Ventures will become a registered investment advisor — meaning there will be no cap to the amount of capital it can use in investment rounds.
- $1.5 billion is among the largest raises this industry has seen and signifies the continued growth potential for Web3.
Consensys founder reveals plans for a MetaMask DAO
Consensys founder Joseph Lubin recently said in an interview that MetaMask has a decentralized future — stating that the most-popular Web3 wallet is looking to progressively decentralize into a decentralized autonomous organization.
Lubin also teased the release of a token at some point in the future.
Key takeaway
- Despite the announcement of a decentralized autonomous organization, Lubin stated that the DAO will not govern MetaMask. Hence, it is currently unclear what the function of a potential token and the DAO will be.
Stargate Finance launches on LayerZero, STG surges
LayerZero, a protocol that provides cross-chain interoperability solutions, saw the launch last week of Stargate Finance — a cross-chain protocol that enables the seamless transfer of tokens across seven different blockchains.
Key takeaways
- Stargate Finance aims to significantly improve the user-bridging experience.
- It has seen major success in less than a week of being live — signified by the protocol attracting almost $2 billion in total value locked.
- Stargate Finance’s token, STG, subsequently soared around 380% over the past week.
- In a tweet, Alameda CEO Sam Trabucco mentioned that the firm bought all the STG coins available at auction — expressing its strong belief in the future of the project.
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Source: https://www.okx.com/academy/en/stargate-finance-launch-sees-stg-surge-news-of-the-week/