News linked to both this project and an event.
According to The Defiant, Arbitrum officially activated the ArbOS 61 Elara upgrade on August 20, which was approved for deployment via an ArbitrumDAO governance vote. The core features of this upgrade include: introducing an optional protocol-level transaction filtering mechanism for Dedicated Chains, allowing chain owners to independently select external compliance service providers such as TRM Labs and Chainalysis to configure restricted address rules; the filter is disabled by default and does not affect existing Arbitrum One users; adding Priority Fee support, also disabled by default, with its activation on Arbitrum One still requiring a separate DAO constitutional vote; introducing the BaseFeeManager contract, which authorizes Offchain Labs to adjust the L2 minimum Gas fee within a DAO-approved range of 0.01 to 0.10 gwei over a two-year authorization period; additionally, the maximum code size limit for Stylus contracts has been increased from 24 KB to 96 KB, though this does not apply to Solidity contracts.
Odaily News: Andre Cronje, founder of DeFi platform Flying Tulip and creator of Fantom Network, stated that most DeFi protocols are no longer truly decentralized, with only a few niche areas still qualifying as DeFi. He believes DeFi has evolved into "on-chain finance" or "open finance." He pointed out that true DeFi should possess characteristics such as decentralization, immutability, and the absence of intermediaries, whereas the intermediaries in most current protocols have become corporations, taking on traditional financial institution roles such as decision-makers and risk committees. Cronje noted that this does not mean true DeFi has completely disappeared, as some protocols are still innovating. Data from DefiLlama shows that the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi has dropped from $167 billion in early October 2025 to $75 billion at the time of the original report over the past 10 months, a decline of more than half. In a working paper published in March, the European Central Bank (ECB) analyzed Aave, MakerDAO, Ampleforth, and Uniswap, finding that based on holding snapshots from November 2022 and May 2023, the top 100 addresses holding governance tokens in these protocols each controlled over 80% of the token supply. The ECB consequently questioned the level of decentralization of these DAOs and whether they should continue to be regarded as "fully decentralized" services exempt from the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). (Cointelegraph)
Odaily News ENS DAO has voted to pass the "Next Era of ENS DAO" proposal and completed on-chain execution, officially establishing the ENS Foundation to usher the ENS ecosystem into a new phase of governance.According to the proposal, the ENS Foundation will become a fully operational organization, equipped with a full-time executive director, a professional team, and a board of directors consisting of 5 members. It will be responsible for ENS's institutional work in legal, policy, standards-setting, and brand protection. ENS stated that over the past nearly decade, it has developed into critical infrastructure within the Ethereum ecosystem, with millions of registered domain names and integration across numerous wallets, applications, and Layer 2 networks. However, the DAO itself lacks a legal entity status, which prevents it from effectively participating in internet naming system governance, signing institutional cooperation agreements, hiring full-time employees, safeguarding trademark rights, or engaging in regulatory discussions. The establishment of the ENS Foundation aims to fill this gap. Going forward, the Foundation will be responsible for:1. Representing ENS in internet standards organizations such as ICANN, IETF, and W3C, to promote the recognition and management of the ".ens" top-level domain (TLD);2. Participating in policy discussions as a legal entity, communicating with regulators and government agencies;3. Holding and protecting ENS trademarks and intellectual property, and combating phishing and impersonation activities;4. Hiring full-time employees to manage ecosystem operations, grant programs, and treasury management;5. Serving as the formal cooperation entity between traditional institutions such as registrars and standards organizations and the ENS ecosystem.
Odaily News on July 20th, according to official sources, JustLend DAO, a core project in the TRON ecosystem, has completed four consecutive rounds of efficient repurchase and burn plans. Over 17% of the total supply of $JST has been permanently removed from circulation, marking another milestone in the deflationary process. All funds for this round were raised in compliance with previously approved community mechanisms, with full transparency on-chain, and the burn data can be verified at any time. As a cornerstone of the TRON DeFi ecosystem, JustLend DAO will continue to optimize its repurchase and burn mechanism, driving the ongoing deflation of the token economic model as the market evolves, building a more stable long-term value expectation for JST holders.
Odaily, on-chain security firm Specter has released preliminary findings on the BONK DAO governance attack. After tracing on-chain fund flows, significant suspicions have emerged: the Realms founder, an address associated with Crypto Notte, shows signs of capital flow interaction with the suspected attacker's wallet.According to the review, the attacker published a malicious governance proposal on June 30. The proposal required 1% of the total BONK circulating supply in voting power to pass. Between July 4 and 5, the attacker acquired sufficient voting weight by purchasing tokens through exchanges and borrowing from Marginfi, totaling approximately $4 million, thereby pushing forward and executing the governance attack.
据官方消息，BonkDAO 表示，其 DAO 金库 因一项恶意治理提案遭攻击，约价值 2000 万美元的 BONK 代币被盗。调查显示，相关地址曾在提案发起前通过交易所钱包购买 BONK。BonkDAO 正与交易所、跨链桥及 Solana 基金会合作处理此事，执法部门已获通知，后续将继续推进资金追回及责任追查。
According to CoinDesk, the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) has published a discussion paper exploring how decentralized finance (DeFi) can be incorporated into the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulatory framework. The MFSA notes that while MiCA exempts “fully decentralized” crypto-asset services, many DeFi projects still retain centralized features—such as admin keys, centralized governance, and protocol upgrade privileges. The regulator is seeking public input on whether decentralization should be viewed as a “spectrum” rather than a binary concept, and whether a standardized framework should be established to determine whether a given protocol falls outside MiCA’s regulatory scope. Additionally, the paper proposes potential legal structures—including DAOs and cell companies—and examines automated compliance mechanisms such as custodial agents. Public consultation on this discussion paper closes on July 10.
According to an official announcement, following a recent review, Binance will add monitoring tags to the following tokens on May 22, 2026: Alchemix (ALCX), Cookie DAO (COOKIE), DODO (DODO), Epic Chain (EPIC), Heima (HEI), Hashflow (HFT), Storj (STORJ), Synapse (SYN), and Alien Worlds (TLM). Tokens with monitoring tags may exhibit higher volatility and risk compared to other listed tokens. Binance will closely monitor and continuously review these tokens. Trading these monitoring-tagged tokens carries risks, and these tokens may no longer meet the listing criteria, potentially leading to delisting.
in April 2026, two major DeFi attacks on Drift Protocol and Kelp DAO resulted in losses of nearly $600 million, triggering approximately $9 billion in capital outflows from protocols like Aave. TRM Labs investigator Nick Carlsen stated that a hacker group suspected to be linked to North Korea has allegedly used AI to assist in target selection and attack path design. Failsafe CEO Aneirin Flynn said that AI has compressed the time for discovering blockchain vulnerabilities from months to days or even hours. The report noted that Anthropic has not fully opened its AI model Mythos due to cybersecurity risks, claiming the model has the capability to discover large-scale zero-day vulnerabilities. Its research indicates that over half of blockchain attacks in 2025 could theoretically be completed autonomously by AI. (Bloomberg)
Solv Protocol has announced the migration of over $700 million in tokenized Bitcoin assets to Chainlink's cross-chain protocol CCIP, and will gradually phase out LayerZero's bridging support across multiple chains. The migration involves core assets such as SolvBTC and xSolvBTC. Solv stated that the decision is based on the latest security reviews and recent cross-chain security incidents, and CCIP will become its standard cross-chain infrastructure. This move follows Kelp DAO's migration of approximately $290 million in assets to Chainlink, further strengthening the trend of "cross-chain infrastructure shifting toward security-first migration." (CoinDesk)
Odaily Odaily PaperImperium, the head of MegaETH, disclosed on X platform that documents from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York show that a U.S. court has issued an injunction against the Arbitrum DAO, prohibiting it from transferring approximately $71 million in ETH assets that were previously frozen during the KelpDAO hacking incident. In response, on-chain detective ZachXBT posted on X platform, stating that certain U.S. law firms are using his investigative work and on-chain forensics to help victims of some hacking incidents file legal claims. However, this practice may actually slow down or hinder victims from receiving compensation or recovering funds.ZachXBT added that in previous hacking incidents involving the Lazarus Group, such law firms often stepped in after on-chain fund tracking or freezing was completed, proposing subsequent legal actions that were weakly related to the crypto incidents themselves. Similar "free-riding claims" strategies were used in events like Harmony and Bybit. He called on the crypto community to establish a DAO to resist such practices.
: MegaETH lead PaperImperium disclosed on X platform a court document from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, showing that a U.S. court has issued an injunction against the Arbitrum DAO, prohibiting it from transferring approximately $71 million worth of ETH assets that were previously frozen in the KelpDAO hacking incident. The plaintiffs are attempting to use these funds to enforce outstanding judgment compensation in cases related to North Korea's involvement in terrorism, kidnapping, and other matters spanning several years. They have also filed a motion to serve legal notice to the Arbitrum DAO via alternative means, treating it as an accountable "partnership." The court document further notes that the Arbitrum DAO has a Security Council governed by ARB holders, which has the authority to take action in emergencies. As a result, relevant members who refuse to comply may face legal consequences such as contempt of court. Market observers believe that this case could set an important precedent for the U.S. judicial system to directly constrain DAO governance structures, further highlighting the compliance pressure faced by DeFi protocols under real-world legal frameworks.
Kelp DAO released a community update on X, noting that the recent rsETH security incident has remained tense over the past several days. However, with support from partners and the broader community, discussions are progressing in a positive direction, and efforts to identify an appropriate resolution are being accelerated. The guiding principles have already been reflected in initial actions, and subsequent updates will continue along this path, aiming for a win-win outcome for all stakeholders. Over the past four days, the Kelp team has engaged in in-depth communication with partners and other relevant parties. Specific progress includes: the Arbitrum Security Council has taken measures to freeze the stolen funds, and the SEAL 911 emergency response team has swiftly stepped in to conduct preliminary investigations, providing a clear and objective analytical perspective on the incident. While some developments have not yet been fully disclosed, related work continues to advance steadily. Kelp DAO stated that its current priority is safeguarding user assets and strengthening the protocol itself. This incident is also viewed as a critical test—not only for the project but for the broader DeFi ecosystem—and key follow-up developments will continue to be shared via official channels.
According to Natalie Newson, Senior Blockchain Investigator at CertiK, real-time deepfakes, phishing attacks, supply-chain compromises, and cross-chain vulnerabilities will be the primary drivers of cryptocurrency hacks in 2026. So far this year, the industry has lost over $600 million to hacking incidents—including the $293 million Kelp DAO exploit and the $280 million theft from Drift Protocol in April—both linked to a North Korean hacker group. Newson warns that the accelerated advancement of AI will make attack methods increasingly sophisticated, including more realistic deepfakes, autonomous attack agents, and “agent AIs” capable of automatically scanning smart contracts for vulnerabilities. However, AI can also serve as a defensive tool. CertiK advises investors to verify URL authenticity and store assets in cold wallets to mitigate risk.
Odaily News Wall Street investment bank Jefferies' analysis indicates that the approximately $293 million attack on Kelp DAO on April 18 exposed critical infrastructure risks, which may prompt traditional financial institutions to reassess the pace of blockchain and tokenization advancement.Jefferies believes the attacker triggered market sell-offs and liquidity stress by minting unbacked tokens and borrowing across platforms. The incident is suspected to be potentially linked to the Lazarus Group and also highlights the single point of failure in the validation mechanisms of cross-chain bridges. As institutions accelerate the tokenization of assets (such as funds, bonds, and deposits), related risks may cause some banks and asset management firms to temporarily pause deployments, prioritizing a review of system security. Especially in scenarios reliant on cross-chain infrastructure, security vulnerabilities could lead to market fragmentation, undermining the practical utility of tokenized assets.Despite short-term confidence being shaken, Jefferies still emphasizes that the long-term trend remains unchanged. Against the backdrop of regulatory progress and continuous infrastructure improvement, use cases like stablecoins still hold growth potential. However, the industry as a whole is still in its early development stage and requires time to enhance system robustness. (CoinDesk)
Regarding the KelpDAO hack, Aave tweeted that the rsETH markets on Aave V3 and Aave V4 have been frozen. Aave stated that its contracts were not exploited and that this incident is related to the exploit of Kelp DAO’s rsETH cross-chain bridge. The freeze will prevent new rsETH deposits and rsETH-backed lending. Aave is currently reviewing lending activity involving rsETH on the platform following the exploit and has indicated that, should the protocol accumulate bad debt as a result, it will explore options to cover the deficit. Earlier reports indicated that Kelp DAO’s cross-chain bridge was hacked, resulting in the theft of approximately $292 million worth of rsETH, exposing Aave V3 to bad debt risk.
According to CoinDesk, Kelp DAO’s LayerZero-based cross-chain bridge was attacked, with the attacker withdrawing 116,500 rsETH—worth approximately $292 million at current prices, or roughly 18% of its circulating supply. This incident has become the largest DeFi attack of 2026 to date. In response, Aave, SparkLend, and Fluid have frozen rsETH-related markets, and Lido Finance has suspended new deposits into its earnETH product. Kelp DAO stated it is jointly investigating the incident with LayerZero, auditing firms, and external security experts.