Security News
Immunefi, a major bug bounty and security services platform, recently released a report revealing that $1,753,707,812 was lost to hacks and rug pulls in 2023 from January to November. In November alone, the losses amounted to $343,038,810, which is the highest monthly loss this year and a significant increase from October’s registered losses of $22,193,496. The report also highlighted that CeFi (centralized finance) became the main target for exploits, accounting for 53.8% of the total losses compared to DeFi’s (decentralized finance) 46.2%. The attacks on Poloniex, HTX Exchange, and Kronos Research contributed to this increase. BNB Chain and Ethereum were the most targeted chains, with BNB Chain suffering the most individual attacks.
Blockchain News
BNB Chain has published its tech roadmap for opBNB, aiming to achieve 10,000 transactions per second (TPS) for transfers and reduce opBNB fees by ten times. The fee reduction will begin next week, decreasing from $0.005 to $0.001. The roadmap also includes plans to introduce multiple node types, increase capacity from 100M to 150M, implement scalable data availability with lower costs between Q4 of 2023 and Q1 of 2024. BNB Chain’s design principles for opBNB focus on high performance and low cost, app chain architecture for easy deployment of multiple application-specific Layer 2 solutions, and fostering a collaborative community.
DeFi News
Econia has announced its launch on the Aptos Mainnet after a successful testnet phase with over $7.6 billion in trading volume and 1,000 active users. Econia is an on-chain order book designed for atomic execution and settlement. By integrating with Aptos’ advanced optimistic concurrency model, Econia offers a trading experience that combines the benefits of centralized and decentralized exchanges (DEXs) in one platform. It allows unrestricted market registration and provides various trading pairs. Econia’s front-end partners and market makers are initially focusing on the APT-lzUSDC pair, utilizing the Stargate bridge developed on the LayerZero interoperability protocol for cross-chain asset exchanges.
Regulation News
Fasset FZE, a digital asset brokerage, has obtained a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license from the Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) in Dubai, UAE. This operational license allows Fasset to provide virtual asset Broker-Dealer services to retail and institutional investors globally. The company’s founding team, which previously worked at the UAE Prime Minister’s Office, played a role in initiating conversations for crypto regulation. CEO Mohammad Raafi Hossain stated that the VARA approval strengthens Fasset’s focus on enabling people in emerging markets to access digital assets. In other regulatory news, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has published a key topics page on crypto assets, providing an overview of its work in this area.
Hot Take: $343,038,810 Lost to Hacks and Fraud in November, a 15x Increase from October
In November 2023 alone, there was a significant increase in losses due to hacks and fraud in the crypto space. The total amount lost reached $343,038,810, which is 15 times higher than the losses recorded in October. This surge in losses highlights the ongoing security challenges faced by the industry. CeFi platforms became the primary target for exploits, accounting for over half of the total losses. BNB Chain and Ethereum were the most targeted chains, experiencing multiple attacks. To address these issues, it is crucial for the crypto community to prioritize security measures and collaborate on finding solutions to protect user funds and maintain trust in the industry.
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