In brief


DeFi tokens are having a bad time
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.
$96,762.00
2.43%$1,810.91
2.46%$2.12
0.19%$599.27
0.30%$145.76
1.73%$0.999947
-0.01%$0.170167
2.22%$0.661972
1.63%$0.246556
0.67%$1,808.54
2.49%$96,577.00
2.23%$3.27
1.91%$13.56
1.04%$8.69
-0.26%$19.17
-2.22%$0.258147
1.56%$0.999937
0.01%$2,171.22
2.02%$0.00001267
2.18%$2.99
-0.03%$0.173307
0.69%$360.77
1.33%$20.85
1.47%$88.19
7.11%$3.90
-0.36%$282.03
-0.29%$0.999965
-0.03%$1,810.63
2.52%$4.25
-0.99%$1.001
0.05%$96,699.00
2.35%$28.65
1.46%$1,928.84
2.25%$0.578999
0.13%$0.00000809
3.84%$356.95
-0.13%$50.76
0.52%$4.67
-0.58%$1.00
0.00%$4.78
-1.61%$1.051
0.03%$2.26
-0.15%$0.853569
1.51%$21.07
-0.16%$0.090519
4.62%$169.27
0.94%$4.55
0.54%$15.91
1.03%$29.87
0.15%$0.706215
-0.10%$0.090537
-0.26%$10.74
0.62%$0.99756
-0.31%$4.07
-3.91%$0.02456577
1.90%$1.17
-0.02%$96,451.00
2.27%$0.216402
1.83%$4.32
0.62%$4.10
1.90%$0.662403
2.45%$2.54
-0.47%$0.196095
1.12%$0.50085
0.73%$0.998314
-0.02%$0.263763
2.05%$4.09
1.15%$2.36
0.63%$0.300173
-0.23%$10.74
0.52%$96,215.00
2.59%$0.854586
14.32%$89.32
4.03%$0.00001647
0.83%$0.914977
3.02%$1.24
1.08%$0.01886043
3.11%$1,450.16
-0.51%$0.412525
-0.05%$152.41
1.40%$0.776453
14.30%$0.072141
1.26%$1,805.50
2.10%$0.999966
0.02%$1,882.34
2.14%$3.76
7.97%$0.19535
0.84%$0.578072
-4.87%$0.957164
-11.78%$0.523357
0.22%$9.36
3.71%$0.998116
-0.23%$0.657959
2.51%$0.999912
0.03%$0.089691
2.41%$2,050.98
2.33%$1.30
-12.49%$3,392.04
-0.79%$14.42
-3.69%$3,391.44
-0.80%$0.999937
0.03%$0.201979
6.30%$598.46
0.12%$96,447.00
2.10%$188.04
1.95%$97,012.00
3.09%$161.16
1.81%$95,326.00
2.55%$0.01518594
1.95%$0.00007467
1.01%$0.709095
1.24%$35.66
0.74%$0.703583
3.94%$2.37
4.62%$0.76325
1.91%$1,926.41
2.51%$3.76
2.66%$0.00000069
0.51%$0.533347
-2.01%$0.01488285
0.31%$0.26837
1.27%$0.01054904
-4.28%$0.997751
-0.03%$0.108707
0.47%$1.99
0.80%$0.998676
0.04%$38.91
8.37%$1.11
1.72%$17.49
2.69%$1,890.68
2.26%$0.363949
0.13%$0.01670397
5.66%$0.531458
2.87%$0.289618
1.58%$0.536343
1.06%$0.051648
7.84%$1.57
1.28%$3.14
-0.68%$0.999189
0.13%$1,911.04
3.47%$95,544.00
0.01%$96,527.00
2.29%$0.999903
0.00%$0.59828
3.20%$0.00520799
-2.74%$0.131825
-0.28%$110.95
0.01%$0.065609
-3.76%$0.999903
-0.01%$0.427314
-2.82%$96,681.00
2.48%$0.00811189
-0.61%$0.383253
-1.31%$0.481092
-1.52%$94,854.00
2.98%$0.169744
1.98%$6.67
0.08%$1.23
2.50%$15.13
1.00%$0.54909
-0.09%$1,810.26
2.51%$0.00000042
0.02%$0.00002075
1.64%$1.085
0.01%$0.999521
-0.02%$0.416381
6.59%$1.47
0.54%$0.150841
-4.08%$0.158413
-6.76%$1.60
5.97%$0.156863
-6.28%$0.126017
-0.74%$1,928.07
2.44%$5.50
5.76%$1,810.13
2.57%$0.479698
1.66%$0.00550518
-0.48%$1,803.18
1.92%$1,808.04
2.39%$2.30
1.72%$0.00705383
1.01%$0.03822256
-0.04%$0.071356
-0.32%$1.001
0.04%$0.21626
1.84%$32.03
0.55%$0.077024
1.93%$21.39
-0.82%$0.364396
-6.52%$2.86
4.42%$38.05
1.73%$0.0176997
1.38%$0.03399129
-0.69%$0.00399474
-0.19%$0.167917
1.65%$0.354326
4.80%$1,872.28
3.92%$1.26
-3.58%$1.35
54.15%$0.997115
-0.20%$1.00
0.03%$1.00
0.07%$0.760231
0.50%$0.0000578
-0.05%$1.00
0.03%$0.484549
1.27%$1.44
-14.58%$96,613.00
2.23%$0.00000146
0.32%$20.97
2.17%$0.660696
2.53%$0.291023
1.75%$1,799.97
2.31%$0.637242
0.47%$96,602.00
2.41%$3,385.06
-0.43%$0.999886
-0.00%$107.84
0.96%$0.00279081
9.99%$0.00000071
20.67%$0.247911
-2.09%$0.215882
0.48%$0.031409
7.84%$2.38
0.23%$1.098
0.09%$19.16
-2.14%$1,913.47
2.18%$0.125331
-5.19%$0.187018
0.97%$0.445119
-3.84%$21.07
1.59%$0.51608
1.60%$3.06
7.75%$1,938.59
2.22%$0.248651
0.59%$2.63
-5.33%$1.53
2.28%$1,984.92
2.35%$0.999471
-0.00%$1.00
0.15%$0.03458471
1.34%$95,230.00
1.13%$1,971.84
2.50%$14.42
1.12%$0.997859
-1.52%$0.00264181
4.78%$1,808.64
2.37%$2.86
4.89%Reading
Is DeFi dead? Again?
The hype surrounding decentralized financedecentralized finance, shorthand for a collection of non-custodial financial products that exist mostly on Ethereum, was arguably the catalyst for the crypto market’s 2020 bull run (post-COVID-induced market crash in March, that is). But the last few weeks have given little reason for optimism for those who fixate on DeFi coin market caps and “total value locked” metrics.
In the past five days, in fact, total value locked—a metric that measures the amount of cryptocurrency put into DeFi contracts—has dropped by a whopping $1.5 billion, according to DeFi Pulse. On the surface, this would represent nearly 12% less economic value in the nascent industry.
In reality, however, this may have more to do with the sinking price of Ethereum, which has dropped by roughly 4% in the last week. In ETH terms, the amount locked in DeFi has remained virtually unchanged since September 16—though in the last five days, the amount of ETH locked in DeFi apps has dropped by 3.5%.
Ethereum is having a rough week overall. Since October 25, the price of ETH has been in decline after failing to break past the $400 mark. After falling as low as $374 today, ETH is currently trading for $383, down 1.56% over the last 24 hours.
At the moment, things aren’t looking much better for DeFi tokenstokens—the Ethereum-based coins associated with various decentralized finance protocols. And if you jumped into DeFi sometime in September, chances are you know this all too well, with some of these tokens losing 50% of their value or more.
Uniswap’s UNI token, for example, went from $7.82 on September 18t to a current price of about $2.32. That's a 70% loss in just over a month. Link Marines are also licking their wounds with a 50% drop in the price of LINK, the native token of the Chainlink decentralize oracle network, since September. UMA (-74%), Compound (-61%), Sushiswap (-94%) and Yearn.Finance (-75%) are also showing significant losses from their September peaks.
There’s now more than $2 billion worth of Bitcoin on the Ethereum network, according to the latest data compiled on metrics site Dune Analytics. The data shows that there’s 150,049 Bitcoin on Ethereum, equivalent to 4.32% of Ethereum’s market cap, or $2.021 billion. In mid-September, that figure stood at just 80,000 Bitcoin, valued at just under $1 billion at the time. The price of Bitcoin has gone up by $3000 since then. But isn’t Bitcoin...Bitcoin, and Ethereum, well, Ethereum? Nice spot—all...
But it’s not all bad for DeFi right now.
More and more Bitcoin investors are still seeking to get in on DeFi action, as represented by the amount of tokenized BTC on Ethereum breaking the $2 billion mark earlier this week. That exceeds Bitcoin's own Lightning Network capacity by nearly 10X.
What’s more, there’s roughly $7 billion more in Ethereum locked in DeFi now than in August, the last time DeFi died.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.
Digital assets may be firmly in the mainstream, with institutional involvement and a crypto-friendly president in the White House. But hackers and fraudsters are having a field day so far this year. Crypto users have lost over $1.7 billion to these groups—already 14% more than 2024’s total losses of $1.49 billion, according to blockchain security firm Immunefi. In the same period last year, losses totaled $420 million, the firm said. The report comes amid ongoing concerns about the vulnerabil...
Libre, a regulated real-world asset platform, and the TON Foundation have launched a $500 million tokenized fund on The Open Network, aiming to bring Telegram’s $2.4 billion in corporate debt onto the blockchain for the first time. Dubbed the Telegram Bond Fund, the product allows institutional and accredited investors to gain exposure to Telegram’s outstanding bonds directly through the TON blockchain, according to a statement shared with Decrypt. The fund will also participate in future Telegr...
Solana decentralized exchange Raydium has deployed its native token launchpad, which is designed to rival the popular Pump.fun. This comes almost a month after Pump.fun deployed its own decentralized exchange, cutting ties with Raydium in the process. LaunchLab by Raydium offers a more sophisticated token creation process, compared to Pump.fun’s simplistic approach. The new launchpad allows for deployers to toy with the token supply, how many tokens will be sold on the bonding curve, and how muc...