Latest news with #DoKwon
Yahoo
28-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
DeFi Sector TVL Hits 3-Year High of $153B as Investors Rush to Farm Yields
The decentralized finance (DeFi) market ballooned to a three-year high of $153 billion on Monday, spurred by ETH's ascent toward $4,000 and significant inflows into restaking protocols. DefiLlama data shows that the uptick in inflows and asset prices over the past week lifted the sector above its December 2024 high to its highest point since May 2022, at the time of $60 billion collapse of Do Kwon's Terra network. ETH has risen 60% from $2,423 to $3,887 over the past 30 days following a wave of institutional investment including a $1.3 billion treasury investment from Sharplink Gaming and BitMine's $2 billion acquisition. Ethereum still commands the monopoly over DeFi total value locked (TVL) with 59.5% of all capital locked on-chain, the majority of which can be attributed to liquid staking protocol Lido and lending platform Aave, both of which have between $32 billion and $34 billion in TVL. Institutions acquiring assets like ether is one part of the equation, the other is securing a yield on top of that investment. Investors can stake ETH directly and earn a modest annual yield between 1.5% and 4%, or they can go one step further and use a restaking protocol, which will award native yield and a liquid staking token that can be used elsewhere across the DeFi ecosystem for additional yield. X user OlimpioCrypto revealed a more complex strategy that can secure an annual return of up to 25% on USDC and sUSDC with low risk and full liquidity. It loops assets between Euler and Spark on Unichain: Users supply USDC on Euler, borrow sUSDC, re-supply it, and repeat. Incentives from Spark (SSR + OP rewards) and Euler (USDC subsidies, rEUL) boost returns. An easier but less profitable alternative starts by minting sUSDC via Spark and looping with USDC borrow/lend on Euler. Despite UI discrepancies, both methods are reportedly yielding strong returns, likely lasting about a week unless incentives change. While much of the attention is understandably on the Ethereum network, Solana's TVL has grown by 23% in the past month to $12 billion, with protocols like Sanctum, Jupiter and Marinade all outperforming the wider SOL ecosystem with significant inflows, according to DefiLlama. Investors have also been pouring capital into Avalanche and Sui, which are up 33% and 39%, respectively, in terms of TVL this month. The Bitcoin DeFi ecosystem has been more muted, rising by just 9% to $6.2 billion despite a recent drive to new record highs at $124,000.
Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The Node: The Mad Journey from Terra to GENIUS
Remember Terra? Do Kwon's layer 1 was designed in such a way that its native token, LUNA, worked in tandem with the network's algorithmic stablecoin, UST. When you minted new UST, you destroyed LUNA tokens (thereby constricting supply), and when you redeemed UST, you created new LUNA (expanding supply). That system worked wonderfully as long as UST experienced great demand — which it did, for a while, thanks to a 20% yearly interest on the coin supplied by Anchor Protocol. But in May 2022, huge selloffs caused UST to lose its $1 peg; market participants rushed to redeem their UST, creating a massive new amount of LUNA and pushing the token's price down, which of course led to more UST redemptions, and so on. Over $40 billion in market value was obliterated in 72 hours. Terra's collapse shook the crypto industry, which back then was levered to the gills. Crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital blew up, while crypto lenders such as Voyager, BlockFi and Celsius went bust. If that wasn't enough, the U.S. imposed sanctions on Ethereum's Tornado Cash, sending developers all over the world in a bit of a panic. After CoinDesk's Ian Allison reported in November 2022 that Alameda was quite possibly broke, people started yanking their funds out of FTX, which led Bankman-Fried to freeze withdrawals. It turned out that SBF had been fraudulently using FTX customer funds to palliate losses incurred by Alameda Research over the course of the years. Bankman-Fried was arrested (and subsequently sentenced to 25 years in prison) shortly after FTX filed for bankruptcy. Shortly after FTX's demise, SEC Chair Gary Gensler began an aggressive campaign against the sector, suing a huge number of crypto firms (including Coinbase and Kraken) and ushering in an era of 'regulation by enforcement' that was decried by the industry and friendly members of Congress alike. That wasn't the end of crypto's tribulations. Crypto lender Genesis and bitcoin miner Core Scientific were soon added to the list of casualties. Worse, in March 2023 three crypto-friendly banks (Signature, Silvergate and Silicon Valley Bank) suffered from bank-runs and collapsed, making it significantly more difficult for crypto firms to access the banking system. Nic Carter, a prominent crypto VC, accused the Biden administration of trying to debank the crypto industry by employing an Obama-era strategy, a theory which has since gained traction within Congress and the Trump administration. But the winds of fortune finally turned in crypto's favor. When BlackRock filed for a spot bitcoin ETF in June 2023, it felt like Larry Fink himself was shooting a flare in the dark, signaling that Wall Street was ready to embrace crypto. Two months later, Grayscale defeated the SEC in court on the matter of converting its bitcoin trust into an ETF. The agency had little choice than to greenlight a dozen spot bitcoin ETFs in January 2024, which later became the most successful new ETFs of all time. At first showing signs of reluctance about launching spot ether ETFs, the SEC suddenly scrambled to approve the products at the last minute. Some observers linked the change of heart to Trump's new friendliness towards the crypto industry, which contrasted with Joe Biden's hostility. The fact that the crypto industry donated a tremendous amount of money to the former's campaign (and to other pro-crypto politicians) certainly helped as well; we saw yesterday that the Democratic Party, once in lockstep with Elizabeth Warren's anti-crypto crusade, strongly voted in favor of both the GENIUS and Clarity bills. Trump's overwhelming victory in November sent shockwaves through Washington and the crypto industry. The new administration kept its word, though not without hiccups in the form of Trump- and Melania-themed memecoins. Ross Ulbricht is now a free man, and an executive order has been signed to constitute a bitcoin reserve (multiple states, like Texas, Arizona and New Hampshire, have followed suit). Treasury's OFAC has taken Tornado Cash off of the sanctions list, while the SEC has dropped most of its lawsuits and is gearing up to greenlight a bunch of new crypto ETFs. Debanking is no longer a concern. Congress, meanwhile, just passed the GENIUS Act (which creates a framework for regulating stablecoins (unthinkable in the wake of Terra's collapse!!) and will probably pass the Clarity Act (a more complex piece of legislation that assigns clear jurisdiction to the SEC and CFTC when it comes to crypto) before the end of the year. Not to mention that Coinbase stock is trading at record highs, Tether is now seen as one of the most successful businesses in the world, Circle has gone public, Core Scientific (back from the dead) is on track to get acquired by AI firm CoreWeave, and Michael Saylor's bitcoin evangelization has given birth to a horde of companies looking to follow in his footsteps to purchase as much BTC (or ETH or SOL or even DOGE) as they possibly can. All of these events have been reflected in bitcoin's price. The orange coin, which you could briefly buy for $16,000 after FTX collapsed, is now priced at roughly $120,000, and the total market capitalization of the crypto sector is near $4 trillion (up from $830 million in December 2022). Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Financial scandal involving a couple shocks South Korea
A shocking financial scandal involving a couple has come to light in South Korea in which a woman stole crypto assets and cash from her boyfriend, a local news publication reported on May 16. On Jan. 5, the woman stole 683 million won (more than $487,460 at the time of writing) in crypto assets, 2 million won (more than $487,460 at the time of writing) in cash, and a cell phone from her boyfriend while he was sleeping. The woman, in her 40s, admitted to all the above-mentioned accusations. The district court in the Jeju province of South Korea convicted her of embezzlement and fraud and sentenced her to two years in prison. The woman's legal team requested the court to be lenient in its ruling, arguing that the aggrieved party has lost only 21.9 million won (approximately $15,630 at the time of writing) as most of the crypto assets have been returned. However, the court didn't entertain this request, highlighting that the total amount of loss is large, the defendant already has two previous fraud convictions, and was on trial for another fraud at the time of the crime. As per the on-chain analytics platform Chainalysis, South Korea was the 19th largest country in terms of crypto adoption. The country led the Eastern Asia region as it received crypto assets worth approximately $130 billion during July 2023-June 2024. Over the years, the country has witnessed several crypto scams. Notably, Terraform CEO Do Kwon, who is facing legal action for allegedly committing crypto fraud, also hails from South Korea. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Do Kwon's Trial Postponed as Prosecutors Say DOJ Crypto Pivot Not Applicable
Do Kwon's trial stemming from the collapse of his Terra crypto project was pushed from January to February 2026 at the second pre-trial conference in Manhattan court on Thursday. Judge Paul Engelmayer revealed he had overlooked a conflict and neither side objected to moving the trial start back one month. That may now give more time for a pro-crypto pivot in the U.S. to play out ahead of Kwon's trial. During the hearing, Judge Engelmayer asked prosecutors whether a new pro-crypto memo from the Department of Justice would have any bearing on the case. The memo, penned by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche this week notes, "The Justice Department will no longer pursue litigation or enforcement actions that have the effect of superimposing regulatory frameworks on digital assets while President Trump's actual regulators do this work outside the punitive criminal justice framework." But lead prosecutor Jared Lenow mentioned that the memo would not change anything about the case against Do Kwon from heading to trial. Prosecutors at another case hearing Thursday involving the sentencing of Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky also made mention that the memo was only meant to be forward-looking. "We're aware of the memo," Lenow said on behalf of the government. "We have no plans to change our charges at this time." Do Kwon's new lead attorney, Hecker Fink's David Patton, sat by Kwon's side for the duration of the trial conference and noted that the memo could lead to some pre-trial motions. More specifically, the defense reserved the right to raise new questions if the government changes its opinions on whether Terra's UST or LUNA crypto tokens were or were not securities. Do Kwon stands charged with counts of fraud stemming from commodities, securities, along with conspiracy and money laundering charges. Lenow pointed out that some of the charges do pertain to conduct carried out by the Luna Foundation Guard, which marketed using Bitcoin to defend the algorithmic stablecoin's peg before it infamously failed in 2022, resulting in over $40 billion in investor losses. Coinage was the first to interview Do Kwon after the collapse in an award-winning documentary. The Securities and Exchange Commission won its case last year against both Terraform Labs and Do Kwon, in which Kwon and his company were found to be liable for fraud. The SEC pursued a record $4 billion dollar penalty against the company and Terra filed for bankruptcy protection. After winning an extradition battle last year, the Department of Justice unsealed a superseding indictment detailing a series of damning allegations against Kwon. If convicted on all counts, Kwon faces a potential 130-year prison term, underscoring the gravity of the courtroom battle that is set to shape up in New York. But before that unfolds, both sides will have more time to discuss things. Judge Engelmayer proposed delaying the start of the trial by a few weeks due to a conflict. Neither side objected to the new trial date of February 17. The next conference is scheduled for June. After about an hour of courtroom discussions in total, Do Kwon was shuffled out of the courtroom by two U.S. Marshalls. For all the news related to Do Kwon's case, follow Coinage on X for more — and subscribe to our free newsletter for updates. Sign in to access your portfolio
