Weekly DeFi Index

This week's market capitalisation and volume indices were negative at -12.63% and -6.45% respectively, while the volatility index was positive at +15.37%.

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Chart of the Week

EigenLayer, the largest Ethereum restaking protocol, has received over 12,412 withdrawal requests since it released its EIGEN token whitepaper on 29 April. This withdrawal count represents around 11.6% of the 107,000 total unique depositors in the protocol. This is expected to reduce EigenLayer’s TVL from US$14.8 billion down to US$13 billion.

The exodus follows the community’s disappointment surrounding EigenLayer’s planned EIGEN airdrop, which imposed geo-restrictions on key jurisdictions such as the US, Canada, and several African and Asian countries. Furthermore, others have also voiced out concerns regarding its non-transferable token structure and an apparently short snapshot period. The full effects of the mass withdrawal will only be more apparent in the coming weeks once these withdrawals have been processed.

• Liquid staking protocol Lido Finance (LDO) has reached one million Ethereum validators, solidifying its position as the largest DeFi protocol.

News Highlights

• On 23 April, Runes protocol, a new token standard on Bitcoin, made up more than two-thirds (68%) of all Bitcoin transactions since its launch following the network's fourth halving event. The surge in Runes transactions during this period has contributed to a significant increase in Bitcoin miner fees, with Runes transactions accounting for about 29% of average miner fees since the halving day.

• BlackRock's BUIDL fund has surpassed Franklin Templeton's BENJI offering to become the largest tokenised treasury fund, reaching a value of $375 million after seeing inflows of over $70 million from 23-30 April. The growth of Ondo Finance's OUSG token contributed significantly to the inflows to BUIDL.

• Renzo, a liquid restaking protocol, has introduced its native REZ token through an airdrop, debuting with a market capitalisation of $289 million. However, it has led to unexpected price fluctuations in its liquid restaking token (LRT) ezETH, as details of its REZ token distribution sparked criticism and confusion among the community. ezETH experienced a dramatic drop in this period, losing as much as 18.3% of its peg with Ether (ETH) before ultimately recovering.

• Aave released a strategic roadmap for 2030 that introduces several key initiatives, including the launch of Aave v4, a new visual identity, and expanded DeFi functionalities. Aave v4 is set to introduce the Cross-Chain Liquidity Layer (CCLL) which will facilitate cross-chain asset transfers. Aave also proposed plans to collaborate with Chainlink to integrate RWAs with its native stablecoin GHO.

• Avalanche's C-Chain network has integrated with payments firm Stripe, enabling verified users to purchase AVAX and transfer it to their wallets. Eight Avalanche dApps have also incorporated the platform for fiat-to-crypto conversions.

• Io.net, a DePIN project on Solana, suffered a Sybil attack, which occurs when a single entity creates multiple fake identities to gain control or manipulate a network. Its CEO, Ahmad Shadid, revealed the discovery of this attack on the network, citing that attackers exploited vulnerabilities to manipulate GPU availability and receive rewards on the Solana-based decentralised computing network.

• Ethereum Layer-2 network Optimism patched two serious security vulnerabilities in its testnet fraud proof system after being alerted by Offchain Labs, the developers of the competing Arbitrum network.

• DeFi lender Pike Finance suffered two consecutive hacks within a week, resulting in total losses of approximately $1.9 million. The first hack occurred on 26 April, prompting the protocol to be paused. A subsequent vulnerability was exploited on 30 April, where the attacker used a vulnerability in Pike Finance’s smart contract to change the output address. This allowed the attacker to drain $1.6 million worth of funds and transfer them to an Ethereum address.

Recent Research Reports

• Alpha Navigator: Quest for Alpha [March 2024]: Asset classes were up in March, with crypto outperforming significantly. US and EU central banks kept interest rates unchanged.

• Research Roundup Newsletter [March 2024]: We present to you our latest issue of Research Roundup, featuring our deep dives into staking providers, Bitcoin Ordinals and Runes, decentralised AI, Ethereum L2 activities post-Dencun, and many more.

• Crypto.com Visa Card Consumer Spending Insights 2023: A full break-down of what our community across the globe likes to spend on in 2023.

Recent University Articles

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• What Is Helium and How to Buy HNT Token: Helium offers a unique approach to decentralising wireless communications for IoT devices. Here’s how its HNT token and the Helium mining process work.

Author

Research and Insights Team

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