Solana
Memecoin generator Solana Pump.fun is attacked by a former team member – DL News
- Pump.fun is accused of operating an unregistered stock exchange.
- These charges follow a $2 million exploit.
- This and much more in this week’s decentralized newsletter.
A version of this article appeared in our Decentralized newsletter of May 21. Register here.
general manager, Tim here.
Here’s what caught my attention about DeFi recently:
- Pump.fun’s exploiter is out for blood.
- US prosecutors bring first-of-its-kind case against MEV.
- TVL on Telegram’s TON blockchain jumps.
Is Solana’s Pump.fun in trouble?
Pump.fun, a Solana-based platform for memecoin launches, is back after a temporary shutdown following a $2 million exploit.
But this feat could be just the start of the protocol’s problems.
Accused exploiter Jarret Reginald S Dunn has released confirmation that he was arrested and released on bail by British police over the weekend.
Now he is fighting back with his own accusations against the pomp.fun team.
Dunn, who else pomp.fun the developers say they have already worked on the project, accused it involves running the UK equivalent of an unregistered stock exchange or unlicensed gambling site.
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Pump.fun is currently one of Solana’s most successful projects. A few days before the exploit, it generated more than $1.2 million in fees in 24 hours – more than the Solana blockchain during the same period.
If Pump.fun faces legal issues and shuts down again, it could lead to knee-jerk activity on Solana.
But Dunn’s arguments against the pump may be weak.
It has already appeared at take credit for the feat, and later said he was charged with stealing the $2 million with conspiracy to steal an additional $80 million.
In the UK, the legality of Pump.fun is unclear. But its developers probably won’t want to have to defend themselves in court.
Pump.fun did not respond to a request for comment.
US prosecutors file $25 million MEV case
US prosecutors allege two MIT-educated brothers pocketed $25 million by targeting crypto trading bots on Ethereum.
Such trading robots, which rearrange transactions on blockchains for profit, have long existed in a legal gray area. While some trading bots exploit users, others help maintain efficient markets.
Some say this case, the first of its kind, could signal more action to come against users of cryptocurrency trading bots.
But as always, the devil is in the details.
It appears the point of contention for prosecutors is that the alleged perpetrators targeted private transactions to extract the funds.
Normally, trading bots can only target publicly broadcast trades. However, in this case, the brothers are accused of accessing private transactions to trick other trading bots into purchasing $25 million worth of illiquid tokens.
Those targeting publicly broadcast trades for MEV strategies appear to be safe – for now.
TON reaches record high for TVL
Assets deposited into DeFi protocols on Telegram’s TON blockchain briefly reached an all-time high of $270 million.
This boost could be the start of the messaging app converting its 800 million monthly active users into crypto degens.
Tether’s deployment of its stablecoin USDT on the TON blockchain in April helped fuel this rise. USDT is the largest crypto stablecoin with over $111 billion in circulation.
TON has a crypto wallet integrated into the Telegram app, allowing users to send USDT to their contacts around the world directly from the app.
Users can also earn an annual return of up to 50% on USDT stored in their TON wallet, paid in TON, the blockchain’s native token.
TON token rises around 31% after venture capital firm Pantera Capital announcement an investment in blockchain on May 8.
Although TVL is increasing, it is unclear whether this recent increase translates into increased activity.
Data of the week: what’s happening on TON?
The TVL of the TON blockchain rose again in early May, briefly pushing the metric above $270 million.
But at the same time, other indicators, such as trading volume, have not shown a similar increase.
Historically, increasing blockchain TVL typically leads to increased trading activity.
This week in DeFi governance
VOTE: Arbitrum DAO Supports 8-Week M&A Pilot
VOTE: Aave DAO seeks to integrate Ethena’s USDe onto Ethereum
VOTE: Lido DAO questions the new Lido Alliance framework
Article of the week
Crypto personality Jordan Fish – AKA cobie – has wrote another blog post after a hiatus of almost two years.
In it, he discusses the growing trend where more and more of a crypto project’s value is captured privately before a token is launched.
Cobie’s previous articles have proven to be very influential in the crypto industry – and this one doesn’t seem to be any different.
What we’re looking at…
zkSync firmly maintains its commitment to decentralization.
Since EIP4844 support rolled out in March, this has been the only priority. The upcoming v24 release is the final planned protocol upgrade needed before handing over network governance to the community. The rest…
— zkSync (n, ∆) (@zksync) May 17, 2024
Ethereum layer 2 zkSync indicates that the launch of its token could be near.
The project previously announced plans to decentralize blockchain governance via a token.
It now indicates that this transfer will take place after the next v24 update, scheduled for the end of June.
Do you have a tip on DeFi? Contact us at tim@dlnews.com.