Welcome to Finance Redefined, your weekly dose of essential decentralized finance (DeFi) insights — a newsletter crafted to bring you the most significant developments from the past week.

This week brought troubling news: Crypto hackers have stolen over $1.2 billion in 2024, a 15.5% increase from 2023. Could they be on pace to exceed the total value stolen in 2023?

In more positive news for investors, bankrupt crypto lender Celsius has finally made two-thirds of its customers whole after repaying $2.53 billion to 251,000 creditors. Celsius owes a total of $3 billion to over 375,000 creditors.

Crypto hackers surpass $1.2 billion stolen in 2024: Immunefi

Cryptocurrency hackers have now stolen over $1.2 billion following hacks in August, raising further concerns about widespread crypto adoption.

The crypto industry saw a total of $1.21 billion worth of digital assets lost to hacks and rug pulls year-to-date in 2024 across 154 individual exploits.

This represents a 15.5% increase compared to the same period in 2023, when losses totaled just over $1 billion, according to an Immunefi report shared with Cointelegraph.

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Celsius distributes $2.5 billion to 251,000 creditors amid bankruptcy proceedings

Celsius has repaid two-thirds of its eligible customers as part of its long-awaited bankruptcy proceedings.

According to an Aug. 26 court filing, the bankrupt crypto lender has repaid approximately $2.53 billion to 251,000 creditors.

The amount represents approximately 84% of the $3 billion worth of assets owed by the defunct crypto lender to over 375,000 creditors.

The bankruptcy payments are a positive development for the expanding crypto industry. They coincide with the bankruptcy proceedings of the Mt. Gox exchange , which owed over $9.4 billion in crypto to 127,000 creditors. After 10 years, these creditors are finally beginning to recover their assets.

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Gavin Wood’s biggest hope: Free crypto transactions and Web3 tech worldwide

Gavin Wood’s biggest hope is making Web3 technology and cryptocurrency a socially beneficial public good.

For Web3 to fulfill its true purpose, cryptocurrency transactions should become free of transaction fees, according to Wood, co-founder of Ethereum, Polkadot and Kusama.

Speaking exclusively to Cointelegraph during the Web3 Summit in Berlin, Wood said:

“My biggest hope is that we can really make [Web3] free for everyone.”

Wood’s upcoming tattoo-based Web3 individuality solution , proof-of-ink, is a significant part of his efforts to make crypto and Web3 free to use worldwide.

Gavin Wood, interview with Cointelegraph’s Zoltan Vardai. Source: YouTube

DeFi network Radix team cuts 15% of staff, citing need to “refocus”

RDX Works, the team behind the Radix DeFi platform, has axed 15% of its workforce, citing a need to lower costs.

The Radix network launched its mainnet in July 2023 and offers developer tools to build and run decentralized applications and financial services on the blockchain.

Piers Ridyard, the company’s CEO, confirmed in an Aug. 29 statement in the company’s official Telegram group that the staff cuts are to “refocus” and are part of a “more comprehensive set of changes that need to be made.” 

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PayPal’s PYUSD stablecoin hits $1 billion market cap

PayPal’s US dollar-pegged stablecoin, PayPal USD, has surpassed $1 billion in total market capitalization, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Launched in 2023, PayPal USD ( PYUSD) is backed 1:1 by US dollars and is issued by Paxos Trust Company, a US-regulated crypto custodian. It competes with other regulated, dollar-backed stablecoins such as Circle Internet Financial’s USD Coin (USDC ).

“The shift toward digital currencies requires a stable instrument that is both digitally native and easily connected to fiat currency like the US dollar,” said Dan Schulman, PayPal’s president and CEO, in a 2023 statement.

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DeFi Market overview

According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, the majority of the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market cap ended the week in the red.

Of the top 100, the Telegram clicker game Notcoin’s ( NOT ) token fell over 22% as the week’s biggest loser, followed by Ton-based memecoin Dogs (DOGS), which is down over 20% on the weekly chart.

Crypto hacks surpass $1.2B in 2024, Celsius repays $2.5B: Finance Redefined image 0

Total value locked in DeFi. Source: DefiLlama

Thanks for reading our summary of this week’s most impactful DeFi developments. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights and education regarding this dynamically advancing space.