Decentralized Finance has a massive security problem🚨; Africa is still hungry for cryptocurrencies 🤤; Institutions are now adopting crypto faster than ever before 🚀

FinTech is Eating the World, 21 September

Hey Everyone,

And happy Wednesday! Today’s issue is super focused on the digital asset space, which is still hot (for the better or worse). We’re going to look at Decentralized Finance which has a massive security problem right now (& why it’s a huge risk for everyone), Africa which is still hungry for cryptocurrencies (if you’re not there yet, you might be missing out), and institutions that are now adopting crypto faster than ever before (they might be the key drivers in the coming years!). Let’s jump straight into the good stuff:

Decentralized Finance has a massive security problem🚨

The news 🗞 Cryptocurrency market maker Wintermute has lost $160 million in a hack relating to its decentralized finance (DeFi) operations. The news was confirmed by a tweet from the company's founder and CEO, Evgeny Gaevoy.

Gaevoy insisted that the company remains solvent and that it has "twice over" the amount of equity that was stolen.

Refresh & The hack 👀 For starters, a crypto market maker provides liquidity on crypto exchanges through digital assets. Founded in 2017, Wintermute provides liquidity across over 50 exchanges and trading platforms, including Binance, Coinbase, FTX, Kraken, and decentralized platforms Dydx and Uniswap.

Blockchain cybersecurity company Certik has said a vulnerable private key was attacked in the Wintermute hack. A vulnerability in private keys generated by the Profanity app was likely exploited. The vulnerability has been known since at least January.

Why is this important? 🤔 The Wintermute hack is yet another proof that Decentralized Finance, and crypto as such, has a massive problem and it’s called security (or lack of it). Here's the takeaway + what it’s a huge risk for everyone: