Ethereum scaling protocols drive zero-knowledge proof use: 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. This week, Finance Redefined looks at the growing popularity of zero-knowledge proof-based scalable solutions. Zero-knowledge rollups (ZK-rollups) technology has gained a lot of traction over the past year thanks to its increased use in the Ethereum ecosystem. Bug bounties are seen as a great reward system for white hat hackers to weed out bugs in the DeFi ecosystem, which often fall prey…

Crypto lender Geist Finance shuts down permanently over Multichain hack

Lending protocol Geist Finance is shutting down permanently due to losses from the Multichain exploit, according to a July 14 social media post from the app’s development team. Geist contracts were been paused on July 6, then resumed in “withdraw and repay only” mode on July 9. The latest post confirms the team does not plan to reopen lending and borrowing on Geist. 1/2 After confirmation from Multichain that the funds will not be recovered, we are announcing that Geist will not reopen. Because Chainlink oracles are tracking the value…

Real-World Asset Tokenization Platform Ondo Finance Expands Tokenized Treasurys to Polygon Network

Tokenized Treasurys has grown to a $600 million market, with Ondo Finance’s OUSG token claiming a significant share of $134 million since its inception in January. Flux Finance, developed by Ondo’s team and governed by a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) through community votes, lets investors take out loans by pledging OUSG as collateral. It has $44 million of total value locked on the platform, according to DefiLlama. Source

U.S. Senate Finance Committee Letter Seeks Crypto Industry Comments for Taxation Policy

“In recent months, the Committee on Finance initiated a bipartisan effort to identify key questions that lie at the intersection of digital assets and tax law,” the letter said. “The Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (IRC), draws distinctions between types of property, with no straightforward classification for digital assets. This uncertainty creates complex reporting issues for taxpayers …” Source

US Senate Finance Committee asks digital asset community how to tax it in open letter

United States Senate Financial Services Committee Chair Ron Wyden and ranking member Mike Crapo released an open letter to the digital asset community on July 11 asking for input on the taxation of digital assets. The senators are looking for solutions to highly complex taxation issues, so much so that they offered background reading from the Joint Committee on Taxation to prepare respondents. The Internal Revenue Code of 1986 provides “no straightforward classification for digital assets,” the senators said. They asked a large number of questions grouped into nine subject areas,…

US authorities are investigating former FTX exec for potential campaign finance violations: Report

Prosecutors in New York are reportedly looking into former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO Ryan Salame for potential violations of campaign finance law in the United States. According to a July 11 report from The New York Times, Salame and his girlfriend Michelle Bond — a Republican candidate who ran to represent New York’s 1st congressional district in 2022 — may have exceeded the federal limits on contributions during her campaign. Authorities are reportedly investigating financial ties between Salame and Bond dealing with her congressional campaign, which did not move beyond…

Arbitrum-based Rodeo Finance exploited for second time, $1.5M stolen

Arbitrum-based decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Rodeo Finance was exploited for $1.53 million on July 11. The DeFi protocol was exploited using a code vulnerability in its Oracle, leading to a loss of over 810 Ether (ETH). According to data shared by blockchain analytic firm PeckShield, the exploiter later bridged the stolen funds from Arbitrum to Ethereum and swapped 285 ETH for unshETH. The exploiter then deposited the ETH on Eth2 staking. Finally, the exploiter routed the stolen ETH using the popular mixer service Tornado Cash, which exploiters often use as…

Arcadia Finance loses $455m in defi protocol hack

Arcadia Finance, a decentralized finance (defi) protocol, has suffered a major setback, falling victim to a code exploit, resulting in a significant loss of approximately $455,000.  The breach was initially detected by blockchain security firm PeckShield, which identified a coding oversight related to untrusted input validation as the root cause of the vulnerability. Exploiting this coding loophole, a hacker managed to drain funds from Arcadia’s Ethereum and Optimism vaults, putting the defi protocol in a precarious position. The company confirmed the breach on Twitter and suspended the affected contracts to…

Arcadia Finance hacker used reentrancy exploit, team demands return of funds

The Arcadia Finance attacker used a reentrancy exploit to drain $455,000 from the decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol, according to a July 10 post-mortem report issued by the app’s development team. A “reentrancy exploit” is a bug that allows an attacker to “reenter” a contract or interrupt it during a multi-step process, preventing the process from being completed correctly. The team has sent a message to the attacker demanding the return of funds within 24 hours and threatening police action if the hacker fails to comply. Post Mortem of ongoing situation,…

DeFi protocol Arcadia Finance hacked on Ethereum and Optimism for $455k

A hacker drained approximately $455,000 from non-custodial decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Arcadia Finance by exploiting a code vulnerability. Blockchain investigator PeckShield alerted about the hack on Arcadia Finance, pointing out the cause as “the lack of untrusted input validation.” The code supposedly lacked a validation mechanism to cross-check unverified inputs. This loophole allowed the hacker to drain funds worth roughly $455,000 from Ethereum (darcWETH) and Optimism (darcUSDC) vaults collectively. Arcadia Finance code required no validation of untrusted input. Source: PeckShield Arcadia Finance has not yet responded to Cointelegraph’s request for…