Cryptocurrency
Curve Finance to reimburse users, another DeFi hack, and ConsenSys launches L2: Finance Redefined

Welcome to Finance Redefined, your weekly dose of essential decentralized finance (DeFi) insights — a newsletter crafted to bring you the most significant developments from the past week.
Over two weeks after Curve Finance’s multiple pool exploits, the DeFi protocol has assured the hack victims that it is assessing each impacted user for reimbursement. This comes after the exploiter returned 73% of the stolen funds.
The DeFi ecosystem moved beyond the Curve dilemma only to face another set of exploits this past week, with Zunami Protocol seeing its stablecoins pools exploited, resulting in a net loss of over $2 million. However, the week was also filled with optimistic developments as ConsenSys completed the public launch of its zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM), Linea, with $26 million worth of Ether (ETH) bridged.
In another development, Fantom-based decentralized exchange SpiritSwap was rescued from its shutdown at the last moment through a community resolution.
Curve Finance vows to reimburse users after $62 million hack
Curve Finance has officially stated its intention to reimburse users impacted by its recent hack, which resulted in $62 million in losses. According to an X (formerly Twitter) post from its official account, ongoing investigations are yielding progress, with approximately 79% of the funds successfully recovered. The platform also said it would assess each impacted user for reimbursement.
This assessment aims to ensure an equitable distribution of resources. The incident on July 30 involved malicious actors exploiting vulnerabilities within the release history of Curve Finance’s Vyper compiler.
Zunami Protocol confirms stablecoin pools attacked, $2.1 million loss estimated
Decentralized finance protocol Zunami Protocol has advised users not to buy any of its Zunami Ether (zETH) or Zunami USD (UZD) stablecoins after encountering an attack on its “zStables” pools on Curve Finance.
On Aug. 13, Zunami confirmed on X that its stablecoin pools had encountered an attack, adding that collateral remains secure as it begins an investigation into the potential exploit.
$26 million ETH bridged: ConsenSys completes public launch of zkEVM Linea
ConsenSys has completed the launch of its Ethereum scaling rollup Linea, onboarding over 150 partners and bridging more than $26 million in ETH to date.
Linea went live with select partners onboarded to the alpha mainnet in July 2023, allowing developers to migrate existing decentralized applications (DApps) from Ethereum’s mainnet or other scaling solutions. The zkEVM is a layer-2 scaling solution that provides lower transaction costs and higher throughput for DApps in the Ethereum ecosystem.
Fantom DEX rescued at the eleventh hour following a planned shutdown
SpiritSwap, a decentralized exchange (DEX) on Fantom, will no longer shut its doors in September after its treasury funds were stuck on the troubled cross-chain protocol Multichain. In an Aug. 16 community vote, SpiritSwap users passed a resolution to transfer the project to Power, a fellow nonfungible token platform and DEX based on Fantom. Power will deploy 200,000 USD Coin (USDC) into the SpiritSwap treasury.
On Aug. 9, SpiritSwap said it would wind down operations by Sept. 1 if it could not find a team to take over after the Multichain exploit drained its entire treasury. Interestingly, Power was also exposed to the Multichain fiasco but only suffered “small” losses, as its treasury assets were not bridged to Multichain.
DeFi market overview
Despite the late market turmoil, DeFi’s total value locked in DeFi protocols saw a bullish surge in the past week. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that DeFi’s top 100 tokens by market capitalization had a bullish week; however, the late Thursday dip washed away the gains, leaving most tokens trading in red on the weekly charts. The total value locked into DeFi protocols touched $49.8 billion for the first time in five months.

Thanks for reading our summary of this week’s most impactful DeFi developments. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights and education regarding this dynamically advancing space.
Cryptocurrency
BONK Explodes by 20% Daily as Bitcoin (BTC) Remains Solid at $108K: Weekend Watch

Bitcoin’s stagnation continues as the asset has made little to no attempt to move away from the $108,000 level.
While most larger-cap alts have produced insignificant gains, TON and BONK have emerged as the biggest gainers on a relatively calm Sunday morning.
BTC Calm at $108K
It has been a quiet period for the primary cryptocurrency. In fact, the latest major price moves came about two weeks ago – on June 23 and 24 – when it dumped to $98,000 before it soared past $105,000 a day later as the Middle East war was going rampantly.
Ever since then, though, the asset has been stuck in a tight trading range between $105,000 and $110,000. It tested the lower boundary on Wednesday, where the bulls stepped up and pushed it south toward the upper one.
On Thursday, BTC showed signs of a breakout attempt when it spiked to a multi-week peak of $110,500, but the bears stepped up at this point and didn’t allow a surge to a new all-time high.
The landscape has been somewhat unchanged since then, as bitcoin quickly returned to $108,000 and has not moved from that level for a few days. Its market capitalization stands strong at $2.150 trillion, while its dominance over the alts is at over 63% on CG.
BONK on the Run
As the graph below will demonstrate, most larger-cap alts are slightly in the green on a daily scale. Such minor increases are evident from the likes of ETH, BNB, SOL, TRX, DOGE, ADA, BCH, LINK, and XRP. In contrast, HYPE and PI have lost some traction over the past 24 hours.
The biggest gainers are TON and BONK. The former has risen by over 9% and sits at $3, while the meme coin has exploded by 20% and now trades at $0.000022.
The cumulative market cap of all crypto assets has remained relatively stable at $3.4 trillion on CG.
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Cryptocurrency charts by TradingView.
Cryptocurrency
We Asked 4 AIs How High Ripple (XRP) Will Go in 2025: The Answers Might Shock You

TL;DR
- Ripple’s price actions are a big prediction topic within the cryptocurrency community, with analysts and believers rushing to offer their insights and forecasts.
- However, we decided to take a different approach this time and asked four of the biggest AI chatbots (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Grok, and Gemini) about their take on the matter.
2025 Price Targets
All four AI solutions seemed very coherent about XRP’s price potential this year, as Perplexity explained it:
“Ripple’s (XRP) price in 2025 is broadly expected to rise significantly from current levels, with expert forecasts varying but generally bullish.”
Although Ripple’s cross-border token has stalled in the past few months and is actually slightly in the red since the start of the year, all AIs had similar conclusions about its price moves until the end of the year.
ChatGPT laid out three potential scenarios, with the conservative one being at $3.4, which would match the asset’s all-time (and yearly) high. The optimistic is set at $5-$6, and the “aggressive forecasts” put the token at $10-$15 by the end of the year.
Google’s Gemini had similar ideas in mind, saying that “a realistic high could be in the $5-$10 range.” Perplexity also joined the $5-$10 club, which could be reached under “favorable conditions” (more on that later).
Grok was slightly more specific and was the only one that said XRP can finish the year lower than its current price tag. It noted that a “realistic price range” for the asset this year is somewhere between $1.8 and $5.81. Although that’s a pretty wide range, it concluded that the most likely peak will come somewhere between $3 and $4.5.
The Favorable Conditions
When it came down to outlining the factors that could impact XRP’s price moves this year, the AIs were once again aligned in their answers. First, they mentioned regulatory clarity and the official conclusion of the lawsuit against the SEC.
Although Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated in March that the case had been resolved and there had been several developments on the matter, the judge overseeing the case has yet to agree fully.
Second, the AIs brought up institutional adoption and bullish partnerships, such as those with Santander, SBI Holdings, and others. A spot XRP ETF will also play a significant role in the asset’s price trajectory this year, if approved, said the chatbots. According to ETF experts, the current odds stand at nearly 100%.
Lastly, the AI solutions highlighted the overall crypto market trends:
“Bitcoin’s post-halving performance and a pro-crypto U.S. administration under President Trump could fuel bullish sentiment across the crypto market, benefiting XRP,” – answered Grok, which was similar to what the others had to say.
Despite these bullish predictions for 2025, all four chatbots clarified that these are just that – speculative forecasts that might or might not come to fruition. Investors should do their own research before allocating funds to any cryptocurrency (or other asset, for that matter).
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Cryptocurrency
Ethereum Price to Hit $6K This Year? Analysts Make Bold Call

If pseudonymous analyst Weslad is to be believed, Ethereum (ETH) is caught in a tug-of-war between wildly differing futures: a historic surge past $6,000 or a soul-sapping plunge to $1,800.
The market technician claims that ETH is completing a massive ABCDE wave structure within a years-long “symmetrical pennant,” which can only mean one thing: explosion.
The Roaring Bull Case
In a recent breakdown, Weslad explained that Ethereum’s price action since its $4,851 all-time high has formed a giant consolidation pattern. According to him, this structure is now approaching a critical inflection point known as wave D, testing its upper boundary.
At the same time, a bullish Inverse Head and Shoulders (IH&S) pattern is emerging on the daily chart, with its neckline acting as stubborn resistance near $2,855.
This technical confluence suggests a coiled spring ready to unleash tremendous energy into the market, leading the analyst to state unequivocally:
“A confirmed breakout above the neckline [$2,855] would likely validate both the IH&S and the breakout from wave D, setting the stage for a potential expansion move toward the $6,000 target and beyond.”
Weslad’s audacious target found an ally in fellow strategist Jeremy Fielder, who declared in a video posted on X:
“We’re looking at $6,500 Ethereum by the end of the year and then a possible 10,000 Ethereum in early next year… Regulation is now pro-crypto. That’s all you need to know.”
He based his argument on the accelerating adoption of Web3 and a favorable regulatory shift, dismissing granular metrics in favor of a sweeping bullish tide.
While not as lofty a milestone as Weslad’s and Fielder’s, market watcher Titan of Crypto’s $4,100 target is not far off the ballpark. His thesis is hinged on Ethereum’s successful recovery back inside its crucial weekly trading range, noting that momentum is building towards the range high.
Looming Bear Trap
But don’t celebrate just yet. Weslad’s otherwise bullish analysis also comes with a stark warning for the downside scenario. He suggested that if ETH faces rejection at the critical $2,855 neckline resistance or the upper boundary of the pennant, a retracement into wave E becomes highly probable.
According to him, this trajectory would drag the price down towards a “high-confluence demand zone” spanning $1,400 to $1,800. That’s a potential 40% collapse from current levels.
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