defi

According to FinanceFeeds, the victim's lawyer from North Korea attempted to redefine the rsETH attack incident that occurred on Aave as "fraud" rather than "theft" before a hearing at the Manhattan federal court, in order to maintain a freeze order on assets worth $71 million in ETH.The lawyer argued that the attacker borrowed assets using worthless collateral and did not repay, which constitutes a fraudulent loan transaction, aiming to use these frozen assets to pay for terrorism judgment compensation under the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act.Previously, hackers associated with the Lazarus Group minted unsecured rsETH through a cross-chain bridge vulnerability and borrowed approximately $230 million in assets from Aave, of which $71 million was intercepted by Arbitrum developers. The victim's lawyer also questioned Aave's standing, pointing out that its terms of service state it does not have control over user assets. Additionally, DeFi United has raised $327 million, exceeding the amount in dispute.

The Web3 asset data platform RootData has outlined 30 Web3 business partners of Hyperliquid, covering multiple key aspects such as stablecoins, cross-chain infrastructure, wallet entry, DeFi protocols, institutional custody, and trading ecosystems, gradually forming a complete on-chain financial system. At the funding level, Hyperliquid has connected with stablecoin issuers such as Circle, Tether, and Ethena. In terms of underlying infrastructure, it connects with cross-chain and oracle services like Chainlink, Axelar, deBridge, and Ripple. The user entry layer includes wallets and front-end tools like Phantom, Rabby Wallet, and DeBank, lowering the entry barrier for users. At the same time, more native DeFi protocols have begun to emerge within its ecosystem, such as Pendle, Felix, HypurrFi, and HyperBeat. According to RootData, the Hyperliquid ecosystem has included 145 quality projects, indicating that Hyperliquid is attracting more financial applications to build businesses around its liquidity. Additionally, the inclusion of custodians like Anchorage Digital, BitGo, and Fireblocks has begun to connect it with larger institutional funds. Trading platforms and market-making institutions like Bybit, trade.xyz, and IMC Trading further enhance market liquidity. Overall, Hyperliquid is continuously expanding around "on-chain liquidity," attempting to replicate the ecosystem model of centralized exchanges on-chain, but the core is no longer an account system. Related compilation: Hyperliquid Web3 Partner Network Compilation (continuously updated) Cryptocurrency projects actively showcasing their partner networks has become a key way to enhance transparency and market trust. It is reported that RootData welcomes Web3 projects to claim their information and continues to track and open more project business relationship disclosure channels. The platform has continuously released multiple issues of cryptocurrency project ecosystem maps, nominating Web3 ecosystem partners for upstream clients like Visa, Mastercard, and Coinbase. If you wish to nominate your project in future ecosystem maps, please fill out the [RootData 2026 Industry Ecosystem Mapping] form to supplement your important clients and partners.

According to statistics from the Web3 asset data platform RootData, the total disclosed financing amount in the crypto primary market in April 2026 is approximately $860 million. This month, a total of 55 financing events were disclosed (along with 5 mergers and acquisitions), which is similar to last month's 62 events, indicating stable overall activity.CeFi, infrastructure, and DeFi are the top three sectors in terms of financing amounts, with approximately $606 million (8 events), $105 million (14 events), and $90 million (19 events) respectively. Infrastructure had the highest frequency of activity this month with 14 events, as institutional attention continues to focus on foundational construction.The top three projects by financing amount are the Vietnamese CEX CAEX ($380 million, with investments from OKX Ventures and HashKey Capital), the global leading exchange Kraken ($200 million, strategic investment from Deutsche Bank), and the Layer1 project Pharos Network ($44 million in Series A). CAEX and Kraken together raised $580 million, accounting for about 67% of the total disclosed amount this month, indicating a continued significant concentration effect in the CeFi sector.The narrative of the prediction market continues to evolve, but the form is changing. This month, 8 prediction market-related projects received funding, all in angel or seed rounds ([XO Market](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/XO Market?k=MTczOTA= "decentralized prediction market") $6 million, PUMPCADE multiple rounds totaling $6 million, [Atlasx Protocol](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/Atlasx Protocol?k=MjQyNTA= "prediction market") $2 million, etc.). After last month's capital ignited the narrative of the prediction market, this sector is evolving from "single giant financing-driven" to "multi-project ecosystem construction."Kraken's "dual positioning" is the most noteworthy chain action this month: In the same month, Kraken acted both as a financing party (receiving a $200 million strategic investment from Deutsche Bank) and acquired the CFTC-licensed derivatives exchange Bitnomial for $550 million.In addition, 8 AI-related projects received funding in April, covering AI agents (Nava $8.3 million in seed round, AIW3.ai $2 million), AI infrastructure ([Cluster Protocol](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/Cluster Protocol?k=MTIwMjc= "decentralized AI model computation verification protocol") $5 million), AI content creation (Oh $7.5 million in Series A), among other sub-directions. The narrative of AI and crypto integration has entered a stage of blossoming in multiple areas.GSR, Coinbase Ventures, L1D, Tether, Kosmos Ventures, and Animoca Brands are tied as the most active investors in April, each disclosing 3 investments.

According to CoinDesk, Angus Fletcher, head of digital assets at State Street Bank, stated at the Consensus Miami conference that in light of the recent surge in DeFi attack incidents, institutional investors are looking for improvements in blockchain security. He pointed out that the young crypto industry needs to find solutions now before trillions of dollars in real-world assets are put on-chain.Fletcher believes that the interoperability between blockchains needs to be clearly defined and understood, and institutional clients need to understand the legal ownership and rights of cross-chain tokens. Dennis Bree, head of Morpho, stated that April could be the month with the most hacker attacks in DeFi history, and regulators are conducting more due diligence on the security of collateralized assets.

According to PR Newswire, Global Millennial Capital (GMCL) announced that its first "IPO Opportunities Fund" has completed a final fundraising of $100 million, with investors including family offices from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar, as well as international wealth management institutions. The fund will provide investment opportunities in technology companies approaching liquidity events through private placements for professional and institutional investors.The fund primarily targets mid-sized technology companies with market capitalizations between $5 billion and $20 billion, focusing on areas such as artificial intelligence and DeFi technology, and emphasizing companies with scalable business models, stable revenue structures, and mature governance systems.GMCL stated that these mid-sized technology companies are in the early stages of value release but are often overlooked by large funds and early investors. The fund's strategy will focus on participating in critical stages before a company's IPO or strategic exit while strengthening risk management and investment discipline.

According to official news, Aave LLC has submitted an emergency motion requesting the withdrawal of the asset freeze notice issued to Arbitrum DAO on May 1, 2026. This notice attempts to seize approximately $71 million worth of ETH, which belongs to the victims of the attack on April 18.Aave stated that attackers do not gain legal ownership of stolen property merely by stealing it, as the law clearly stipulates. The assets being recovered are intended to be returned to users affected by the attack on April 18, 2026. Freezing these assets harms the users that the recovery efforts are supposed to protect.Aave has requested the court to hold an emergency hearing and temporarily lift the freeze order, while continuing to work with the Arbitrum community and DeFi United to compensate the affected users.

According to Crypto In America, the U.S. CLARITY Act has reached a key compromise on the yield mechanism for stablecoins, clearing an important obstacle for the Senate Banking Committee to advance its review.Under the latest proposal, crypto companies can offer rewards (such as cashback or membership benefits) based on user transaction behavior, but are prohibited from paying interest yields (APY) on idle stablecoin balances. This compromise means that stablecoins will be explicitly positioned as payment tools, rather than as bank-like deposits or high-yield savings products. The industry generally believes that this provision strikes a balance between the crypto industry and traditional banks, but is overall more favorable to the banking system.Industry organizations, including Coinbase, have renewed their support for the bill, believing that although the yield restrictions have tightened, there is still room to earn rewards based on actual usage scenarios. Some industry insiders have pointed out that this move limits the financial attributes of stablecoins.In terms of the regulatory process, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott is expected to schedule a markup of the bill soon, possibly as early as mid-May after Congress reconvenes. Additionally, discussions around DeFi regulation (such as defining developer responsibilities) and ethical provisions are still ongoing and may become important variables affecting the bill's final passage. The market generally believes that the next two weeks will be a critical window for whether the CLARITY Act can be implemented.

According to Globenewswire, the Nasdaq-listed Solana treasury company DeFi Development announced the launch of a $200 million ATM financing plan.The company stated that the raised funds will primarily be used to continue executing its Solana reserve strategy and that shares will only be issued when there is a positive effect on the value of each shareholder's SOL holdings, ensuring that the financing has a "accretive" nature.

MegaETH supervisor PaperImperium disclosed on platform X that documents from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York show that the U.S. court has issued a restraining order to Arbitrum DAO, prohibiting it from transferring approximately $71 million in ETH assets that were frozen during the KelpDAO hacking incident.The plaintiffs are attempting to use these funds to enforce unpaid judgment compensations related to North Korea's involvement in terrorism, kidnapping, and other cases over the years, and have applied to serve legal notice to Arbitrum DAO by alternative means, treating it as a "partnership organization" that can be held accountable. The court documents also indicate that Arbitrum DAO has a Security Council governed by ARB holders, which has the ability to take action in emergencies; therefore, if relevant members refuse to cooperate, they may face legal liabilities such as contempt of court. The market believes that this case may become an important precedent for the U.S. judicial system directly constraining DAO governance structures and further highlight the compliance pressures DeFi protocols face within real legal frameworks.

Dragonfly partner Haseeb Qureshi stated that retail investors have significantly exited the current crypto market, and institutions are becoming the market bottom and supporting Bitcoin prices. He pointed out that Bitcoin is being viewed as a mature asset with sustained growth potential over the next 15 to 20 years, while altcoins need to have a clear narrative to attract retail attention again.He also mentioned that the core of the crypto industry still revolves around money and financial scenarios, with areas such as DeFi, stablecoins, exchanges, and RWA having strong user stickiness. With the involvement of AI technology, future agents may take on intermediary roles in trading, thereby enhancing overall adoption, and low-risk preference users may become the main source of incremental growth.

In less than three weeks, 12 agreements were stolen for over $606 million. Among them, the Drift incident resulted in a loss of $285 million, and Kelp DAO suffered a loss of $292 million, with the two attacks accounting for approximately 95% of the total losses.

According to Cointelegraph, the venture capital market in the cryptocurrency industry significantly cooled down in April, with the total amount of cryptocurrency VC financing dropping to $659 million, completing 63 rounds of financing, a sharp decline of 74% compared to March's $2.6 billion (84 rounds), marking the lowest monthly financing level since 2024.As of 2026, the cumulative financing amount in the cryptocurrency industry has reached $5.64 billion. Since peaking at $3.84 billion in October 2025, cryptocurrency VC financing has continued to decline, during which the total market capitalization of the global cryptocurrency market has also fallen by about 37%. In terms of sectors, DeFi protocols led with 12 rounds of financing, while blockchain services and AI-related cryptocurrency projects each completed 8 rounds. The venture capital department of market maker GSR became the most active investor in April, participating in 4 financing deals; institutions such as Tether, Animoca Brands, and Coinbase Ventures also participated in 3 transactions each.

Mantle Network officially announced that the proposal for the rsETH relief coordination loan facility initiated to Aave has officially entered the governance voting stage.According to the proposal, Mantle will provide a loan to Aave's relief action to help users orderly exit or resolve related positions. Users holding MNT tokens must first complete delegation on the Snapshot platform to participate in the voting.Aave founder Stani stated that DeFi United is the largest DAO coordination he has participated in, with at least 6 different DAOs proposing governance plans (Arbitrum, Aave, EtherFi, Lido, Compound, and Mantle). He thanked everyone who helped and participated.Currently, the DeFi United ecological relief action led by Aave is ongoing to address the collateral asset gap caused by the rsETH incident on April 18. The designated donation address has raised a total of 1,137,714.633 ETH, worth $314.57 million.

According to official news, the Solana ecosystem DeFi protocol Carrot has announced that it will soon shut down. Carrot stated that the Drift exploit incident has had a catastrophic impact on its ongoing operations. Carrot has set May 14 as the deadline for withdrawing remaining funds from Boost, Turbo, and CRT, after which the system will begin deleveraging, reducing all leverage to zero and releasing all liquidity for CRT redemption. Carrot stated that any recovery funds from Drift will still be distributed as previously promised, but there is currently no specific timeline.

KelpDAO has announced that it has completed its committed contribution to the recovery fund and has provided 2000 ETH in treasury funds to the DeFi United recovery plan led by Aave, aimed at restoring the peg support for rsETH and promoting the system's return to normal operation.This funding is a one-time investment intended to restore rsETH to its nominal exchange rate. Following the events of April 18, DeFi United, in collaboration with multiple ecosystem participants (including Mantle, Consensys, Arbitrum, Lido Finance, LayerZero, etc.), has formulated a recovery path that includes re-capitalization of the bridging treasury, restoration of oracle functionality, and addressing funding gaps in the affected markets.Kelp stated that its investment helps accelerate the overall repair process. Kelp emphasized that the internal commitment before any public statement is that "rsETH holders will not be abandoned," and noted that this contribution is a direct manifestation of that commitment.As funds from various parties gradually come into place, the collateral support for rsETH will gradually return to normal, and the company will continue to update the community on progress.