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Convergence, a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol, got hammered by hackers. The attack happened in the wee hours of August 1. It cost the protocol a whopping $212,000. The hack sent Convergence's native token, CVG, into a nosedive. Its value plummeted by over 99%. Talk about a rough day at the office. Wireshark, the pseudonymous founder of Convergence, spilled the beans in a post-mortem. The hacker exploited a smart contract vulnerability. They minted and sold 58 million CVG tokens for about $210,000. But that's not all, folks. The hacker also nabbed $2,000 in unclaimed rewards from Convex. Convex is another DeFi protocol that boosts rewards for Curve liquidity providers. PeckShield, a blockchain security firm, tracked the hacker's moves. After minting the CVG tokens, they quickly swapped them for 60 wrapped-Ether and 15,900 Curve.fi FRAX. The CVG token is now trading at a measly $0.0004. Its market cap has shrunk to just $57,000. That's according to CoinMarketCap data. Convergence admitted they goofed up. They accidentally removed a crucial line of code from their smart contract. This contract distributes CVG staking rewards. "The modification led us to remove the line of code that was checking the input given to the function," Convergence explained. This slip-up allowed the hacker to exploit the contract. Convergence claims user funds are safe. However, they've advised users to withdraw assets from the platform. They're working on fixing the rewards contract for the Stake DAO integration. The hack has put a dent in Convergence's total value locked. It dropped from $5.79 million to $3.69 million, according to DefiLlama data. This incident is part of a larger trend. The crypto ecosystem lost around $266 million to hacks in July alone. Most of this came from the $230 million hack of Indian trading platform WazirX on July 18. Convergence is now left picking up the pieces. "We apologize to our community and investors, and we take full responsibility for what happened," they said. They're currently mulling over the future of the protocol. This hack serves as a stark reminder. Even in the world of cutting-edge finance, a single line of code can make or break a protocol. It's a tough lesson for Convergence, and a wake-up call for the entire DeFi space.

Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) are slowly but surely chipping away at the dominance of centralized crypto exchanges. The shift is real. Recent data paints a clear picture. DEX volume has jumped from $133.5 billion in January to $179.5 billion this month. That's a hefty 34% increase. The trend becomes even more apparent when you look at the bigger picture. DEX trading volume as a percentage of total crypto trading volume has surged from 4.6% in February to over 7% this month. Do the math, and you'll see that's a 52% increase in DEX market share. So, what's driving this change? Kunal Goel, a senior research analyst at Messari, points to several factors. "The growth of meme coins and long-tail assets is one reason," Goel told Decrypt. These assets often debut on DEXs before hitting centralized exchanges – if they ever do. He also highlighted improved user experience. "Onchain UX has improved with low fee, high throughput on Solana and Ethereum L2s," Goel noted. The numbers are even more striking in the short term. In the past 24 hours, DEX volume accounted for 22% of all trading volume. That's according to DeFiLlama data. 2024 has seen a steady climb in DEX volume. But it's not been a smooth ride. March saw a massive spike in both CEX and DEX volumes. Goel explained the March anomaly: "Bitcoin hit fresh all-time highs in March and trading activity is typically positively correlated with price and sentiment." Looking ahead, Goel expects centralized exchanges to disrupt their own business model. They'll likely move on-chain before others beat them to it. "Base and BNB Chain are the prominent examples," he added. Interestingly, DeFi market cap dominance has actually dropped this year. It's currently at 3.86%, down from 4.47% on January 1. Goel found this puzzling, noting, "DEX volumes are a key driver for DEX value so it is a little contradictory." For the uninitiated, DeFi stands for decentralized finance. It's a catch-all term for blockchain-based financial tools, including DEXs. The main draw of DeFi and DEXs? They cut out the middleman. Anyone with internet access can lend, borrow, bank, or trade without traditional intermediaries. This accessibility has fueled significant adoption of DeFi and DEXs this year. They've become a major focus for dapp (decentralized application) developers. The crypto landscape is changing, and DEXs are at the forefront. Whether this trend continues remains to be seen, but one thing's for sure – the game is on.

Trust Wallet, a major player in self-custody Web3 wallets, has inked a deal with The Open Network (TON). The partnership aims to boost blockchain adoption. It's a big move. The collaboration taps into Telegram's massive user base. Trust Wallet plans to focus on gaming finance (GameFi) and decentralized applications (DApps). It's a smart play. Trust Wallet's 100 million users will now be able to send and receive Toncoin (TON) tokens. That's according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph. It's a game-changer for TON. Nate Zou, Trust Wallet's head of product, spoke to Cointelegraph. He said the company plans to "provide more access to [the] Ton ecosystem" for users. Single chain and cross-chain swaps are on the cards. TON NFTs might also get support. The integration promises smoother interactions with TON's blockchain tech. TonKeeper wallet imports into Trust Wallet are coming "in the coming weeks". That's pretty soon. More features are in the pipeline. TON Connect and TON DApps integration is planned "in the coming months". Users are in for a treat. Zou called the partnership a "natural progression" for Trust Wallet. He said their values align with TON's "community-driven and user-friendly approach". It's a match made in Web3 heaven. Trust Wallet recently launched an open-source solution called Barz. It's an ERC-4337-compatible smart wallet. The aim? To help devs overcome wallet challenges and boost Web3 adoption. Luis Ocegueda, Trust Wallet's engineering head, praised open-source development. He said it allows developers to "do things that we may or may never had even an idea that can do". It's all about innovation. In other wallet news, Ledger unveiled a new touchscreen wallet. CEO Pascal Gauthier outlined three key aspects of wallet security. He claims their new wallet ticks "all three boxes". It's a bold statement in the competitive wallet market.

Bitcoin, the granddaddy of cryptocurrencies, just got a major facelift. BitcoinOS (BOS) has successfully verified the first zero-knowledge (ZK) proof on Bitcoin's mainnet. This breakthrough occurred at 11:22 pm UTC on July 24. The implications are huge. This development could unlock new levels of functionality and scalability for Bitcoin. And get this - it doesn't even require changes to the blockchain's base layer. Edan Yago, co-founder of BOS, didn't mince words. "This represents an era where Bitcoin is no longer just digital gold," he told us. "It's also an operating system and a platform for decentralized applications." Yago didn't stop there. He threw down the gauntlet to other cryptocurrencies. "This marks a chapter where Ethereum, Solana and all other layer-1 projects are no longer safe from competition by Bitcoin," he declared. So, what's the tech behind this game-changer? It's called BitSNARK. It's a ZK Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge verification software library. In plain English, it lets developers create "near-trustless bridges" to move Bitcoin between the mainnet and layer-2 rollups. But what does this mean for everyday transactions? Yago explains: "A single Bitcoin transaction can now be used for transacting privately and for things like smart contracts." In other words, one transaction could represent thousands. This upgrade essentially turns Bitcoin into an operating system. It's no longer just a payment system. It can now handle "decentralized services and activities, like DAOs, DeFi, anything you can imagine," says Yago. Here's the kicker: Bitcoin can now upgrade without soft forks or consensus changes. "It is now possible to introduce any kind of features that you want to Bitcoin, in a permissionless way," Yago explains. This development follows StarkWare's recent milestone. On July 17, they verified their own ZK-proof on Bitcoin's testnet, Signet. This laid the groundwork for ZK-based layer-2 solutions to improve Bitcoin's scalability. In a nutshell, Bitcoin just got a whole lot more interesting. It's not just about hodling anymore. The crypto world is watching closely to see what happens next.

Memecoins are crushing it in 2024. Binance Research says they're the hottest thing in crypto right now. The research arm of the top crypto exchange dropped a bombshell. Memecoins are driving crypto awareness this year. They've outperformed all other sectors. "Memecoins have driven a significant amount of activity among traders and captured a notable amount of attention within the crypto community," Binance Research stated. "Considering that memecoins have been the top performing sector year-to-date and have returned a staggering 279%, it is hardly surprising that it has been a sector that has garnered much interest." Two blockchains are spearheading the memecoin surge. They are Coinbase's Ethereum layer-2 chain Base and Ethereum rival Solana. AI-related crypto projects are also turning heads. They've sparked considerable consumer interest. DeFi is making a comeback in 2024. It's not messing around. Binance Research noted, "2024 has seen a substantial influx of capital into Decentralized Finance ('DeFi'), driving the TVL (total value locked) up 72.8% year-to-date ('YTD') to US$94.1B, from US$54.4B at the year's start." This surge has boosted nearly every DeFi sector. Major and niche markets alike are reaping the benefits. New protocols are emerging. They're bringing previously inaccessible financial primitives on-chain. Looking ahead, Binance highlights two more crypto sectors to watch. These are real-world asset tokenization and the growing Bitcoin ecosystem.