The world of decentralized finance (DeFi) experienced another frenzy around memecoins this past week, as celebrities jumped on the trend of launching their own memecoins. This marks a shift from the previous trend of celebrities launching nonfungible tokens (NFTs) in 2021-2022. Amidst the meme hysteria, pop star Iggy Azalea came up with a unique strategy to avoid scams and rug pulls.
In other news, a trader who suffered a loss of 1,807 liquid-staked Ether (ETH) valued at $6.91 million seems to have recovered a significant portion of the stolen funds from scammers. According to a recent report by Immunefi, crypto losses related to hacks and frauds decreased by 12% compared to the previous year in May.
The top 100 DeFi tokens had a mixed performance during the week, with most tokens trading in the green and the total value locked in DeFi contracts remaining above $100 billion.
According to Immunefi’s report, losses from crypto fraud and hacks decreased by 12% year-over-year in May. The total loss for the month was $52 million, down from over $59 million in the same month last year. This represents a 28% decline compared to the losses in April.
This report continues to highlight the trend of decreasing losses from hacks and frauds in the Web3 industry. In March, Immunefi reported a 23% decline in losses for Q1 2024 compared to the previous year. In April, CertiK reported the lowest losses ever for the month.
Moving on, Iggy Azalea, the pop star turned crypto star, announced her plan to burn her own coins whenever a celebrity coin is identified as a scam. This strategy aims to build trust and integrity in the crypto community and differentiate her from other controversial celebrities.
Despite Azalea’s efforts to bring legitimacy to her memecoin, called Mother Iggy (MOTHER), Bubblemaps recently claimed that insiders bought a significant portion of the token’s supply at launch. The supply auditing tool platform alleged that insiders purchased “20% of the supply at launch” before Azalea announced the launch of MOTHER. These holdings were then dumped for $2 million prior to the announcement.
Additionally, there was an exploit on the BNB Smart Chain that resulted in approximately $80,000 worth of a BEP-20 token labeled as “BTC” being lost. While this amount is relatively small compared to other crypto exploits, it raised questions about the intentions of the attacker. On-chain security firm Cyvers suggested that the attacker could be a white hat or ethical hacker who uses their skills to identify security vulnerabilities.
Furthermore, a victim who lost 1,807 liquid-staked ETH worth $6.91 million on May 26 appears to have recovered a significant portion of the stolen funds from scammers. This is a rare occurrence in such cases, and it provides some relief to the victim.
In terms of the DeFi market, data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the top 100 DeFi tokens had a mixed performance during the week. Most tokens traded in the green on the weekly charts. After a period of bearish pressure, the total value locked in DeFi protocols exceeded $100 billion.
That concludes our summary of the most notable developments in the DeFi space this week. Stay tuned for more stories, insights, and educational content about this rapidly evolving industry.