Hyperlink—Robinhood's top crypto exec to start new crypto venture, Ronin bridge hack
Hyperlink—Robinhood's top crypto exec to start new crypto venture, Ronin bridge hack
March 31st, 2022
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The latest happenings around crypto.
Robinhood’s top crypto exec departs for new crypto venture
Robinhood's top crypto exec is leaving [The Block]
Robinhood Crypto Lead Christine Brown Leaving to Start Crypto Venture [Decrypt]
What’s happening: Robinhood’s Crypto COO, Christine Brown, announced that she is leaving the company to start a new crypto venture, the details of which are still undisclosed.
Why it matters: This all points to how fast the crypto space is evolving. Large companies will have a tough time retaining talent in the midst of the massive amount of opportunity at play in the crypto space.
Also interesting: Robinhood has reaffirmed their commitment to the aggressive expansion of their crypto business.
“Robinhood has set aggressive goals to start opening its crypto platform up to customers internationally in 2022,” the firm said. “The company believes in the immense potential of the crypto economy and sees a big opportunity in serving customers across the globe.”
Ronin Network hit with $600M hack
Hackers Steal About $600 Million in One of the Biggest Crypto Heists [Bloomberg]
What’s happening: An exploit of the contract of a bridge (computer nodes that let users switch from one currency to another), allowed a hacker to siphon 173,600 ETH and $25M in USDC - totaling nearly $600 million in total value.
Computers known as nodes operated by Axie Infinity maker Sky Mavis and the Axie DAO that support a so-called bridge -- software that lets people convert tokens into ones that can be used on another network -- were attacked, with the hacker draining what’s known as the Ronin Bridge of 173,600 Ether and 25.5 million USDC tokens in two transactions. The breach happened on March 23, but was only discovered Tuesday, according to Ronin, the blockchain that supports Axie Infinity. [Bloomberg]
Why it matters: It’s still early days for DeFi, or Decentralized Finance, which covers most of the alt-L1’s (alternative layer-one), sidechains (Ronin is an Ethereum-linked sidechain), and other financial primitives being built using distributed ledgers.
Large exploits of the contracts governing DeFi protocols are still prevalent because much of the space lacks transparency and systems around auditing contracts to ensure their security.
The size of these protocols points to the interest in the space, and the need for these protocols to exist. But transparency and security will need to be improved before major adoption will occur.