The Protocol: Lido Avoids Major Hack
Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk's weekly wrap-up of the most important stories in cryptocurrency tech development. This is Margaux Nijkerk and Sam Kessler, CoinDesk’s Tech team.
Today, we're shining a light on some of the biggest developments in crypto tech, from a major security breach that Lido narrowly avoided to the blossoming of Bitcoin DeFi. We'll also explore the latest news on Ethereum's next major upgrade, Fusaka, and Telegram's crackdown on cryptocurrency crime marketplaces.
LIDO AVOIDS MAJOR SECURITY BREACH
Lido, Ethereum’s largest liquid staking protocol, avoided a major security incident after one of its nine oracle keys was compromised in what appears to be a low-impact but serious breach involving validator operator Chorus One. Lido secures over 25% of all ether (ETH) staked on Ethereum, making it one of the most systemically important protocols in the Ethereum ecosystem.
The compromised key was tied to a hot wallet used for oracle reporting, leading to the theft of just 1.46 ETH ($4,200) in gas fees. No user funds were affected, and no broader compromise was detected, per X posts from both Lido and Chorus One.
BITCOIN DEFI BLOSSOMING
Decentralized finance (DeFi) on the Bitcoin blockchain may still be in its infancy relative to Ethereum, but Bitcoin DeFi (BTCFi) is becoming safer and cheaper, crypto analytics firm Messari said in a new report. A central participant is Rootstock, one of the oldest Bitcoin layer-2 projects.
Rootstock is now secured by 81% of Bitcoin's total hashrate, meaning miners that account for amount the hashrate are also approving transactions on the layer 2. The figure was just 56% before the onboarding of Foundry and Spiderpool, the world's largest and sixth-largest mining pools, respectively, in February.
FUSAKA PLANNING BEGINS
After the successful deployment last week of Pectra, Ethereum’s biggest upgrade in more than a year, the network's core developers are already shifting focus to the next major chain upgrade: Fusaka. Pectra, the biggest code change to Ethereum since the Merge in 2022, introduced key changes aimed at making staking easier for institutions, improving wallet accessibility, and boosting transaction efficiency.
Developers have already begun planning for Fusaka, the network’s next upgrade, and have thus far agreed to include an Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) called "PeerDAS" that could help the network support larger "blobs" of transaction data.
TELEGRAM CRACKS DOWN ON CRYPTO CRIME MARKETPLACE
Messaging app Telegram has closed thousands of channels belonging to suspected Chinese crypto-crime marketplaces after new research shed light on the situation, according to Elliptic. The closure follows a report published by the blockchain analytics firm on Tuesday into the fast-growing Telegram-based marketplace called Xinbi Guarantee.
The Colorado-incorporated marketplace has processed over $8.4 billion worth of transactions using Tether’s USDT stablecoin since 2022. It facilitates services relating to money laundering, operating crypto scam compounds and other illicit services, such as intimidation and sex trafficking, according to Elliptic.