© Reuters Crypto Flipsider – Early Bitcoin Developer Loses 200 BTC Worth $3.6 Million; Cardano Leads Developers; $62 Million Stolen in December; LidoDAO Emerges as Top DeFi; Investors Selling Bankruptcy Claims
Read In the Digest:
- Early developer Luke Dashjr Key hack results in 200 BTC losses worth $3.6 Million
- Cardano leads all blockchain protocols in development activity for 2022.
- December sees a total of $62 million in cryptocurrency stolen, the lowest figure for 2022.
- LidoDAO is the new DeFi protocol with the highest TVL.
- Investors selling claims against FTX, Celsius, BlockFi, and Voyager at discount rates.
Luke Dashjr Loses 200 BTC Worth $3.6 Million in Key Hack
Crypto community began 2021 with a sad incident; one of the original Bitcoin developers, Luke Dashjr, lost “basically” all of his BTC in a hack on New Year’s Eve. Dashjr reported that hackers had compromised his PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) and managed to move 216.93 BTC, worth approximately $3.6 million.
Blockchain developer Peter Todd has speculated that the hack could have been caused by backdoor software installed on Dashjr’s desktop or server. Dashjr claimed that the hack happened on November 17, 2022, and was repeated on Christmas Day.
Flip side:
- Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao promised to investigate the situation. However, some believe the news is false, and that Dashjr is using it as a way to evade taxes.
Why should you care?
The news has ignited a discussion about self-protection. While it may not be harmful, some argue that password control should not be directly controlled by users.
Cardano Leads Development Activity in 2022
The Cardano project, which is designed to be a cryptocurrency-related platform with the ability to manage its blockchain network and develop decentralized applications, leads all other blockchain developments in this year’s race.
Crypto analysis platform Santiment has reported that Cardano had the highest development activity in 2022 with 2,434 confirmations; Ethereum was second with 2,065, and Cosmos Hub was third with 1,622 Github commits.
Indicating the activity of the top ten blockchains in 2022. Source: Holyday
A high number of confirmations indicates that new features are on the way or that developers are confident that the protocol will succeed.
Flip side:
- Santiment also found that Cardano has dropped 97% of its previous high, indicating one of the most well-developed chains.
Why should you care?
The high number of Git commits shows optimism and could be helping Cardano to navigate the crypto winter.
$62 Million in Cryptocurrency Stolen in December
2022 was a severe year for crypto networks in terms of hacks, with multiple protocols being exploited each week. However, reports from Certik suggest that hackers have increased their activity over the holidays.
Data from Certik reveals that $62.2 million worth cryptocurrency was stolen in December, the “lowest monthly figure” of the year. This amount is a 89.5% reduction from the figure in November, which was $595 million.
Exit scams were found to be the main cause of losses, with the largest one being Defrost Finance, where users lost more than $12.9 million. Other major losses for the month were the theft of $15 million in liquidity from the BNB Chain staking platform, and the depegging of HAY’s stablecoin.
Flip side:
- According to Santiment, hackers were
